how to host your own All You Can Eat Pasta Party

I'm going to take a day off from complaining about my tonsils to tell you about something really fun we did last weekend.

Olive Garden has their Never Ending Pasta Bowl going on right now. Joe LOVES this event so we always try to go at least once a year. But this time, he had an even better idea -- let's host our OWN all-you-can-eat Pasta Party!

Normally, when we host Tequila Tuesday or our annual Superbowl Party, we have about 10 people, maybe 15 on a good night. We had NO IDEA pasta would be so popular. We had 21 people RSVP! I was a little freaked out about preparing that much food (especially considering that I worked a 60-hour week).

We learned some valuable lessons about how to plan for the right amount of food. Various websites said that 1 lb dry pasta serves 4-6 people. So that's like what, 5 lb? Maybe 6 to be safe? Well my wonderful husband, who ALWAYS over-estimates food, decided that we needed 12 lbs of dry pasta! Let's just say we'll be eating pasta until the Second Coming. Tips:

• 1 lb dry pasta REALLY DOES serve 4-6 people. Six if there is other food available, four if you are only serving pasta.
• Buy dry pasta in the bulk section at Winco. It's about $0.80 per lb compared to $1.00 elsewhere, and they have tons of options. We got rotini, farfalle (bowties), linguini, conchiglie (shells), and rigati.
• Try gnoccis! My college roommate introduced me to these yummy potato dumplings. They are good with any type of sauce, just like pasta. We get ours at Walmart.

As for sauce, it's hard to say how much we used. The websites I found said about half a cup per person. We were more worried about having lots of selection than we were about having too much sauce. We served:

• Ragu Roasted Garlic Parmesan Alfredo (very popular)
• Ragu Double Cheddar (made a yummy mac and cheese!)
• Hunts Four Cheese Marinara (we also bought 2 other types of marinara, but this was least popular, so we didn't end up using them)
• homemade Fresh Basil Pesto (see recipe below)
  
• homemade Mushroom Creme Sauce (not very good; won't make it again)

We also asked everyone to bring a side, which worked out well. People brought salad, desserts, garlic bread, bread sticks, Italian meats and cheeses, wine, etc. Overall it was super fun and a good way to get everyone together! And a good "last supper" for me before these stupid tonsils came out :)

Quick & Easy Fresh Basil Pesto Sauce

• 4 cups tightly packed fresh basil leaves, washed and dried (a salad spinner works well)
  
• 1/3 cup pine nuts (can use walnuts to save $ but won't taste as good)
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (I used about half olive oil and half water)
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and halved
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan or pecorino cheese
  
• I also added a dash of balsamic vinegar

Place basil, pine nuts, and garlic in blender. Slowly pour in olive oil/water while blending until you reach the desired consistency. Add cheese and blend again.