Easy Breezy Pasta

As busy as I am, I ALWAYS make time to serve my man dinner. At the beginning of our marriage, I fell back on what I called my "staple dinners"...I could always count on them and they were the easiest recipes ever. My most common one was pasta and sauce from a jar. HO HUM! My newest goal as a cooking wife was to STOP serving my husband the same meal every Thursday. I have been very adventurous but now more than ever. Since, we moved to Florida, I decided to fill my time up as much as possible with whatever I can. This is my attempt at making Med School more manageable to get through...Enough of my home life, let's talk about what I have begun doing. I want a larger box of tools to pull from. I NEED those easy recipes every now and then so I have found one in particular worth sharing. Aside from my obsession with all things Giada, I have picked up a few new recipes. This one is so easy but looks and tastes so gourmet!

Rigatoni with Almond Bread Crumbs

Ingredients

1 pound rigatoni pasta
3 cups purchased garlic-flavored croutons, (about 5 ounces)
1/4 cup slivered almonds (about 1 ounce), toasted
1 cup julienned roasted red bell peppers
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Directions
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta into a large bowl.
Place the croutons and the almonds in a food processor. Pulse until it becomes the texture of bread crumbs. Add the crouton and almond mixture to the hot pasta. Add the peppers and the olive oil. Toss to combine and serve.


Now, I would have garnished it with my new basil plant, but it died over the break when I was out of town. Anyone have any advice for my pale-green thumb? How do you keep this fragile herb alive while out of town??? Thanks!