This year I’m serving pasta for Christmas dinner. Oh, I know Christmas dinner is a meal that deserves something extraordinary. But I’m so tired from unpacking boxes and dealing with issues in my new space that the idea of standing in the kitchen for hours putting together the perfect “Martha-Stewart Dinner for 20” makes me want to crawl in one of those moving boxes and hide. So I’m skipping the expense and time of the huge roast (and all the trimmings), and I’m boiling some noodles.
Shocking right? Maybe, but I’m convinced that while we want something rich and amazing to celebrate with, this special holiday meal should be more about spending time with the people I love. And I can do that over a plate of pasta just as well as a standing rib roast. So Christmas dinner at my house is going to be Penne with Gorgonzola Cream and Cranberries.

The mildly sharp, tangy flavor of the Gorgonzola is a perfect foil to the sweet cranberries, and toasted chopped walnuts provide the texture to pull it all together. With a spinach salad and warm toasted garlic bread, we’ll be sitting down to dinner in under 30 minutes. Maybe your December has been full of something besides planning for the Christmas dinner, and you’ll appreciate the simple solution of pasta for your Christmas dinner? Let me know what you plan to serve in the comment section below. Merry Christmas!