Pasta for Dummies - Rose Sauce

Remember when I had you put two jars of sauce in a pot and heat them up? Remember that? Yeah, well we're going to do that again.

Behold! Super easy rose sauce! It is called rose sauce because we mix a red sauce with white sauce, which in color wheel land would equal a pink sauce...but in real life it's actually rather orange.


We'll start with our two jars of sauce!

Since I wasn't sure how it would turn out, I didn't use the entire jars. However, the proportions would be right I think. I didn't use equal parts of each sauce, but I used equal parts of the jars. As in, I used 2/3 of the jar of alfredo sauce, and 2/3 of the jar of spaghetti sauce, so using the entire jar of each would work out as well. Alfredo sauce tends to come in slightly smaller jars than spaghetti sauces so I think in most cases these proportions would be right. Although you could just mix the two until you get the color you want.

You're aiming for this color, I guess.


If you're really cool you can wear a tomato themed apron while you do this.


Now for chicken slices! (I had the chicken breasts marinating in Italian salad dressing)


Multitasking! I'm cooking a whole wheat shell pasta for this experiment.


I plated it on a blue plate because orange and blue are complementary colors and I like to prove to my mother that I am using my art degree.


I think it came out pretty yummy. I don't think it's as great as the alfredo/pesto mix, but it's still pretty good. At least it gives you something different to do. I actually think I might mix the rest of the sauce together and make a lasagna with it.

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Pasta for Dummies - Pesto Alfredo

If you have an aversion to using pre-packaged sauces in jars, you may skip to another post.

If you want a super yummy meal that is also super easy, and did I mention super yummy? Then stay right here.

And you too can have some of this Pesto-Alfredo Chicken pasta for yourself.


An online acquaintance posted the recipe and said "make this, it'll taste like you spent hours in the kitchen".

Original recipe:
*dry pasta, any kind
*1 cup store bought pesto sauce
*1 ½ cup Alfredo sauce
*sun-dried tomatoes
*fresh cilantro
*1 cup cooked, chopped chicken breast

1. Cook pasta according to instructions.
2. Combined Alfredo sauce, pesto sauce, sun-dried tomatoes, cilantro, chicken breast. Heat and serve.

Simple enough, right? But wait, it gets better. I made it EASIER.

I omitted the sun-dried tomatoes (I'm not really into tomatoes) and the cilantro (because I didn't go to the store). I didn't even measure my sauces, I just used a jar of alfredo sauce and about 3/4 of a jar of pesto because the amounts in them were about right. (Pesto is strong, so you may decide 1/2 the jar is enough for you).

My alfredo was actually the "roasted garlic" flavor, which may have possibly improved upon this almost un-improvable meal.

OH MY GOD ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION?!?! YOU EMPTY TWO JARS INTO A POT AND YOU HEAT THEM UP. HOW MUCH BETTER CAN THIS GET??

I happened to have chicken already marinating in vidalia onion dressing. I almost always have random ziplocs of chicken marinating...I keep them in the freezer, and then take them out a day or two before I want to eat them. my usual marinade is italian salad dressing, but vidalia onion sometimes wins out. So I just grilled the chicken on my George Foreman and it was AMAZING (I'm sure cooking it in a pan would have been great too).

And I cooked some penne. And then I put it all together and I ate it. Sooooo gooooooood.


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