Macaroni and Tomatoes (easy w/ few ingredients)

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This macaroni and tomatoes recipe is simple and old fashioned and uses only a handful of ingredients from your pantry.

If you have macaroni (or other pasta) along with canned tomatoes (crushed or diced), chicken broth, minced garlic, and dry oregano, you can make this very simple, delicious recipe.

Tips for Macaroni & Tomatoes

It's an easy recipe to adjust to what you have on hand. For example, if you don't have chicken broth, you can just use water. It's more flavorful with chicken broth, but it can be adapted.

You could use a tablespoon of butter for extra flavor if you'd like. Also, a chicken bullion cube would add excellent flavor to the water if you don't have broth.

Adapt the canned tomatoes to what you prefer (or have on hand). I like smaller chunks myself, so I prefer petite diced mixed with pureed tomatoes.

Also, if you only have tomato sauce, that will work well too.

For the garlic, you can use fresh or jarred garlic. I like keeping jarred minced garlic on hand for ease of use, and the flavor is very close to fresh.

Alternately, you can use garlic powder. Make sure that you're using garlic powder instead of garlic salt, however, as this will add more salt to the recipe and will need to be adjusted further.

Making Mac & Tomatoes

I like to start with a flavor base of garlic, basil, and oregano. If you have an Italian seasoning blend you can use that.

You will want to saute the herbs and garlic together in the oil for a couple minutes still the garlic begins to brown and the herbs soften a bit.

Next will come the chicken stock. You can substitute water, but the recipe won't be quite as flavorful.

Alternately, you could use a bullion cube along with the water, which would probably add some nice flavor comparable to the stock.

You won't be draining the liquid, as it will all be absorbed by cooking the macaroni. So you will want to cover the mixture after adding the macaroni and bringing it to a boil, reducing the heat beforehand.

The macaroni will cook about 15 minutes, stirring about every 5 minutes to prevent sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Once the macaroni has absorbed most or all of the liquid, it will be time to add the tomatoes and heat briefly before serving.

Serve topped with parmesan cheese and dry parsley if desired. I was also tempted to add a dollop of butter to the end product, but I refrained due to trying to keep the recipe as simple as possible (and with fewer ingredients).

I made this macaroni tomato recipe in my cast iron Dutch oven, which I love and highly recommend!

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