One of the best things about working from home is, you get to do other stuff on the side such as cooking.

One of the worst things about working from home is, you need to do other stuff on the side such as cooking.

It’s so easy to binge eat when you’re working at home, especially when your fridge is newly restocked with junk groceries. I used to just eat anything my hands could grab because I am too lazy to turn on the stove. But things are different now. I’ve stopped eating crap for lunch and started whipping up healthy meals in the kitchen during my lunch break.

One of my favorite things to cook is this Easy Penne Carbonara. It’s delicious and doesn’t really take a lot of time to prepare. Now, there are different takes on Carbonara out there but this is just my own spin on it. That’s the real beauty of cooking – you can tailor it according to your wants and needs. 

I used Penne pasta instead of Fettucine because, well, I like Penne better. You can, of course, use Fettucine or any other pasta – whatever makes you happy! I also used cooked ham instead of bacon because choose the lesser evil =p. 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Penne Pasta 
• 1 pack all purpose cream
• Chopped Ham
• 1 tbsp Butter
• 1/4 cup evaporated milk
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 2 tbsp chopped garlic
• olive oil
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• water

Procedure:

Penne Pasta

• Put water in a pot and bring to a slight boil
• Add a bit of oil and a dash of salt
• Add in penne pasta and cook al dente (approx. 14 mins)
• Once cooked, drain and put under running water
• Set aside

Carbonara Sauce

• Heat butter and olive oil in a pan
• Sautee garlic until fragrant
• Add chopped ham and cook until slightly brown
• Add 1 pack of all purpose cream and 1/4 cup milk- stir and bring to a boil
• Add parmesan cheese and continue cooking until well incorporated
• Add water if the sauce becomes too thick
• Season with salt and pepper

Once your sauce is done, you can either toss the pasta into it or you can simply pour the sauce over the pasta. I poured mine over my penne pasta and topped it with chopped ham and more Parmesan cheese for good measure. You can also add some chopped parsley on top if you’re serving it to your guests.

I love cooking this penne carbonara because it only takes less than 30 minutes to prepare, plus it’s yummy and healthy, too. =)

What about you? How do you like your carbonara?