Glorious spring day

Today was wonderful. It's beautiful outside. So I went out and enjoyed it. Well, as much as I could. I went to church. Heard a really great sermon. Caught up with friends. Went to Rue Lafayette for a delicious BLT sandwich, tea latte (not as good as I thought but OK) and cup of strawberries. Yum. Then I went to Park Ave. Coffee and had a smoothie. Double yum.

Then I went to the grocery store. While there I bought a box of Penne pasta that had this recipe on it. I tried it and it is DELICIOUS and relatively easy too. So I'm posting it here:

Penne Pasta with Spinach and Tomatoes

Ingredients -
8 oz (I used 1/2-3/4 of a 16 oz box) of penne pasta
7 slices chopped Pancetta or bacon (it calls for 3 oz, I used 4 slices and then added 3 more cause I like bacon)
2 Tbsp olive oil, more to pour on top
2 cups fresh spinach (I just bought some at the store and tossed it in)
Garlic - the recipe calls for 1 large or 2 small gloves, I just used garlic salt and garlic pepper
1/4 cup Red Wine Vinegar - be sure not to put too much in, I think I might have, but it's still good
1 1/3 cup (or 1 can) of Grape or Cherry Tomatoes - I used diced tomatoes
Parmesan
What I added - 1 can mushrooms, 1 1/2 scallions, 3 celery stalks

1. Boil the penne - I did it in some chicken stock and water, you can do it in just water. Once it's cooked, drain it and set it aside
2. While the pasta boils, saute the pancetta/bacon in the olive oil till it's crisp. Remove the bacon and set it aside but leave all the juice.
3. Saute the spinach and garlic in the juice (this is when I added the mushrooms, scallions, and celery) till the spinach wilts
4. Add vinegar, cook about 2 mins (I combined this step with the next one and it still turned out good)
5. Add tomatoes, cook until tomatoes are softened and hot (bout 2-3 minutes)
6. Add tomatoes and pancetta/bacon. Toss it/stir it. Add parmesan on top.

Serves at least 3 people, probably about 4-5 servings. It's delish!