The problem with pasta is portion control. Pasta is usually served as a main dish (often with bread to munch on until food arrives!), while potatoes and bread are rarely the center of a meal.
linguine in garlic and olive oil. Aglio e Olio.
You can request a smaller pasta portion with the full portion of protein/sauce - on it, or on the side.
Aglio e Olio just rolls off the tongue. Or gets caught in your tonsils! Speech therapists must love it for a tongue workout.
BB, just load up your pasta with your favorite veggies and call it a really good salad!
I was just referring to the population in general - the average Joe the Olive Garden patron will not ask for a tiny dollop of pasta on the side or request to load his pasta dish with veggies. Of course, because this is CC, we are all above average pasta eaters and we do eat it the right way. 
I personally never serve pasta as a main dish, and cold pasta (the so called “macaroni salads”) is just bleh. 
My favorite is homemade linguine, though growing up with an Italian mother has me spoiled. If you practice a bit, making it is fast. It takes an egg for each handful of flour, mix with your hands, then roll it out and slice with a knife. We had a hand-crank roller slicer but rarely used it. Farfalle is my favorite shaped pasta, bite-sized so sauce doesn’t end up everywhere. For special meals I make super pillowy gnocchi.
A few weeks ago the wife committed the mortal sin of trying to pass off jar sauce on us - she didn’t want to take the time to thaw out some of our good sauce in the freezer. Even with a ton of cheese and black pepper on it, it was still bad. We ended up feeding half of it to the chickens.
I like to take leftover pasta (whatever shape it may be) and mix it with whatever I can find that makes a little bit of sense and bake it in a dish. Not always the best dish due the randomness involved, but it is easy and generally pretty good.
The best pasta dish? The ones you eat in Italy!
Lol, deb!
Duh!!! Forgot about this one.
http://momsdish.com/recipe/617/ukrainian-dumplings-aka-galushki
Needs both bacon and butter - the healthiest foods on the planet. Drool. 
I think I shall become a Pastafarian, too.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2015/11/13/after-appeal-massachusetts-pastafarian-gets-to-wear-colander-in-drivers-license-picture/
@lje62 that bread looks amazing. It looks like it doesn’t need kneading? (I want to try it but my arthritis makes me not like kneading)
It’s true, no kneading…I have been making bread for 30 years and I think this is the easiest bread to make
and it is soooo good. I have made it in a dutch oven and also le creuset too. Both work fine ( must have oven proof lid )
Thanks definitely going to give it a try
Here’s the go-to no knead bread recipe we use in our family. Super easy, only needs a few hours. You don’t need a lid as you cook it in a cast iron skillet, pizza stone, or an unlidded dutch oven. You create steam in the oven with water which results in a great, crusty crust. http://www.honeyandjam.com/2010/01/crusty-white-bread.html
Darn it @doschicos , now I want that book. And the healthy artisan bread one by the same authors. Ooh, Christmas present maybe, I never know of anything to ask for for Christmas
Here’s the go-to no knead bread recipe we use in our family. Super easy, only needs a few hours. You don’t need a lid as you cook it in a cast iron skillet, pizza stone, or an unlidded dutch oven. You create steam in the oven with water which results in a great, crusty crust. http://www.honeyandjam.com/2010/01/crusty-white-bread.html>>>>>>>>
It seems in the directions that s/he says s/he bakes only a grapefruit size portion of the dough.
What do you do w/ the remainder?
How many grapefruit size portions does this amount provide?
(thinking I’d just as soon make less and just make one batch at a time)
@VaBluebird We actually either bake one GIANT or 2 medium sized loaves. Or you can keep the remainder in the fridge for many days so you can bake a small loaf every day and have fresh bread daily (or for portion control). With each day, it gets a little more complex, more sourdoughy. In my house, if its baked it gets eaten which can be dangerous!
Pasta human rights news you can use:
Pastafarian wins right to wear colander in driver’s license
Thanks, 1moremom, for posting the baked ziti recipe! I made it last night to serve at DD’s house; we are in town for Thanksgiving. All 7 roommates made time for a group dinner and we had a wonderful time. The pasta was a hit!