Mara's Pasta - Last chance to win!

Mara's Farfalle pasta in pasta salad

Last week, I had a day where things were just moving way too fast. We all have those days. Someone had put pork on for a pulled pork dinner, thank heavens, but I needed to find side dishes that would satisfy the crowd, and quickly! Then I remembered that box of farfalle (bow tie) pasta that was left to review. Mara's Pasta to the rescue!

Mara's Farfalle

While I was toasting the buns, I threw the box of bow ties into a pot of boiling water and followed the directions. I wasn't sure what the result would be like. I've always used tri-color pasta for salads before, and this was "plain old whole wheat," so I'll admit I wasn't expecting much.

After the pasta was ready, I ran it under cold water for a few minutes to chill it (I did say I was in a hurry!), then tossed it into a big bowl and threw in some broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, cucumber and cheese cubes. A quarter cup or so of ranch dressing went over the top and was well mixed in. It looked pretty decent, and I was pleased with myself as I put it on the table.

I wasn't expecting people to like it. I was WRONG. Only our seven year old boy didn't like it; he ate all the vegetables and left the pasta. Everyone else had a healthy serving, then went back for more. Hubby even took it for lunch the next day, something he never does!

Pasta salad at its finest

The bow tie pasta came out perfect. It was chewy without being either crunchy or too soft. The strong flavors of the veggies and dressing paired very well with the slightly wheaty flavor of the pasta itself. The texture of the pasta was perfect for a pasta salad. On top of all that, it was just plain pretty! It looked beautiful on the table, and the taste was great. It paired extremely well with our quick pulled pork sandwiches, too. This is definitely a pasta we will buy again.

Of all the Mara's Pasta types we tried, the farfalle was the best in my opinion. Despite the boy child's distaste for it, it was well loved by everyone else including our white bread loving member. The other pastas were good, but the bow ties were excellent.

In second place we have the spaghetti. Served with a sausage tomato sauce, it was pleasant both in flavor and texture. I found that we need to cook it a bit less than is mentioned on the package, for our own preferences.

The linguine was delicious but had a very heavy wheat flavor which brought it in third. If you like that (I do, but others in the family are less happy with it) then you'll adore this style. Paired with a stout sauce such as a tomato or other heavy meat sauce you will enjoy it. More delicate sauces like my alfredo might not do so well.

Mara's Pasta is well worth picking up unless you are a die-hard pasta maker yourself. While we generally seemed to prefer hubby's home-made pasta to the Mara's when we had it, we still enjoyed it and it was a LOT less work to make Mara's! For convenience sake alone it is worth picking up. Since it's 100% whole wheat pasta and doesn't contain any chemical yuck in it, it's pretty much guilt free, too. And if you want to make pasta salad this summer, buy the farfalle!

Enter the giveaway soon! At the time of this posting, there's only nine hours left, and in the grand scheme of things, not many entries. You have a good chance of winning a box of this lovely and flavorful pasta to try in your own home.


Mara's Pasta can be found in the following places:

Mara's Pasta Home Page: http://www.maraspasta.com/
Mara's Pasta Online Store: http://www.maraspasta.com/products-page/
Mara's Pasta email subscription: http://bit.ly/TdMwfX
Mara's Pasta Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MarasPasta
Mara's Pasta Twitter page: https://twitter.com/#!/MarasPasta
Mara’s Pasta Pinterest board: http://pinterest.com/maraspasta/

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Disclaimer: Mara's Pasta provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.

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