Novel Noodles: Kale and Caramelized Onion Pasta

If you've been following Six-Seven-Eight for any length of time, you've probably realized we love creamy Alfredo style pastas (in fact it's one of the reasons we're married today!).

While those are great every now and again, sometimes you need to shake things up and try a less fattening option or just simply one with different types of flavors. That's were today's look at novel noodles comes in - we're going to make a pasta that mimics the cream style, but which doesn't actually use heavy cream or butter.

For Kale and Caramelized Onion Pasta, you'll need:

•    Your preferred pasta – we used ziti, but penne or bowties would be great as well
•    1 bunch fresh kale
•    1 – 2 white or yellow onions
•    1 tbsp. minced garlic
•    ¼ - ½ cup Parmesan
•    5 strips bacon
•    3 Tbsp. half and half

Here's the one concession to the less-healthy side of cooking in the recipe: bacon! By using bacon you both get a fun crunchy element, but you can also use the bacon grease to cook the onions, so there's no need to add extra butter or oil.

After the bacon is crispy, we're going to set it aside and break it into small pieces to add back into the pasta later.

With the pan still hot and filled with bacon grease, throw in the minced garlic and sliced onion rings and let them caramelize for about 20 minutes. If you wanted to go an even healthier route, you could buy pre-packaged bacon bits and simply cook the onions in a few teaspoons of olive oil. While the onions are caramelizing, start cooking your preferred pasta in a separate pot of water.

Next we're going to roughly chop the kale. This is a vegetable we hadn't used much until a few years ago when we discovered the glory of putting kale in soup. Now we try to add it to recipes whenever possible!

Throw the chopped kale in with the onions and let the greens start to cook through.

Now toss your cooked pasta into the pan with the kale and bacon, but don't drain all the water - reserve about 1/4 - 1/2 cup. Sprinkle your Parmesan cheese into the pasta and start stirring.

Slowly add in the reserved water while stirring until the cheese melts in and the pasta is at the level of moisture you want. If it's not quite creamy enough for you, add in a few tablespoons of half and half, as this will give you the same texture and a similar flavor without actually going all the way to heavy cream. Throw in the bacon bits and you're almost done!

Plate up and grind some fresh pepper on top for a satisfying meal that taste's more decadent than it really is, while offering up the health benefits of kale!