This recipe came to me when I was watching Sister Wives. Yes, I watch it, I started years ago when they first came out and were on The Today Show all those years ago. I couldn’t help but get sucked in. It was almost like not being able to look away from a train accident but then I started to root for the women and when one of his wives left, I cheered thinking about time, as I’m sure those who watch did too. The other week on the show they talked about bow tie pasta and lasagna. My recipe is different from what they showed but I think it is as tasty as theirs looked.

I took tomatoes, basil and oregano from my garden for the sauce, but you may want to use can tomato sauce to make yours or buy some marinara from the store that is totally up to you, but I had a surplus of tomatoes and the time to make my sauce. If you buy yours this is such a quick dish and feeds a good amount of people so on those busy night this may be one, you want to do over and over.

I also used rainbow bow tie pasta with no preservatives, dies or enriched bleached flour but this again is all up to you and what you have on hand. This recipe isn’t the healthiest I have made but it does taste good and if you use whole grain pasta or a protein pasta like lentils or chickpea, make your sauce and don’t use meat the only part of this dish that may cause your doctor to frown is the cream cheese. There are always ways to make dishes just a little healthier if you’d like to make those swaps. So, this recipe leaves a large amount of leeway for you to have fun with.

Bow Tie Lasagna:

8.5 ounces of Bow Tie pasta cooked per package directions.

3 1/2 cups of marinara (or about 24-ounce jar of spaghetti sauce)

8 ounces of cream cheese

2-3 Tablespoons of milk

2 1/2 cups of vegetarian crumble (or about 1 pound of hamburger meat cooked)

1-2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese

Parmesan for the top

In a medium Dutch oven add vegetarian crumble, cream cheese, milk and 1/4 cup of marinara sauce stir together then add cooked pasta and rest of marinara sauce. Stir all ingredients together toping with mozzarella cheese. Cover and cook at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Let stand a few minutes, dish up and top with parmesan cheese if so desired.