Pasta Dinners

Asians love their rice, the Europeans have their potatoes, and the French love their fancy breads. But there\'s no denying that Americans have come to adopt pasta, considering its Italian origins, as its own dinner staple. The average family has it at least twice a week, and for many, it accounts for the "carb" part of most of their meals.

But precisely because it\'s so popular, it\'s easy to run out of recipe ideas. You can only serve so much meat sauce, tomato sauce, or meatballs with your pasta. But pasta is a versatile dish-like rice, it goes with pretty much anything. It\'s only a matter of finding new ingredients and new flavors to work with. Sometimes, you can just take your old recipe, change one or two ingredients, and come up with something completely new. For starters, try adding a new herb or spice to the recipe-just a little bit can make a really dramatic change.

If you\'re after some old-school flavors, try making pasta in the crock pot. Slow cooking has been used for decades to maximize the flavors of food, and it works especially well with pasta sauces. Just drop in your favorite meat and other key ingredients, and the pot does the work for you. This also makes it ideal for busy households-you just turn it on in the morning and come home to a warm pasta dinner.

For something that\'s really different, try ditching the tomatoes and looking for other kinds of sauce. In the northern states, Chinese pasta is becoming quite popular-you just make a stir-fry sauce with ground beef, vegetables, and some soy sauce. It makes an excellent topping for pasta, and you can eat what\'s left with bread, rice, or even on its own. It\'s also a great way to use leftover ground meat and vegetables.

If you\'re serving for a party, one thing you can do is make two or more different sauces and serve the toppings separately. That way, your guests can mix and match as much as they like. This works well for a casual buffet-style party, or large gatherings where you have a more varied menu.

Pasta is a favorite among many American households. But there\'s more to it than the usual meat and tomato sauces. Here are some ways you can reinvent this staple and make your next dinner a bit more special.