Restaurant Style Pasta with Three Cheese Sauce Recipe -- Easy, Gluten Free, and Delicious

I debated whether or not to post this recipe here on my blog, because, quite frankly, it is not frugal. But... now that I came clean about having mental health issues, I can also explain some other stuff, and now it'll make sense. I've been trying to do a lot of self care for myself, to keep myself in a good place, and I try not to do it so spendily, but sometimes I do spend money on things and I'm ok with that. One of the self care type stuff I've done lately is buy a takeout cheesy pasta dish from a restaurant when going to the open air market and I hadn't had a chance to eat a good meal yet that day. It's not super expensive, something like $15, and it was delicious and really satisfying and all that. But if I could recreate it at home, even better.

Anyhow, today I had a really rough day and I didn't have an appetite for pretty much any food. It got to 6 pm without my eating even a single bite of food, because nothing appealed to me. My good friends, hearing what was going on, asked me if there was any food I was in the mood to eat, and the one thing that came to mind was pasta with cheesy mushroom sauce. Well, if that's what my mood called for, if that's the comfort food I needed, then I was going to get the ingredients for it, even if from my local mom and pop's store, and make it.

I will admit that this isn't a frugal recipe, especially not when using ingredients purchased from the corner store, but this recipe did make enough to feed my entire family, and have leftovers for another meal or two, for approximately what one serving cost at my favorite restaurant. So it's more frugal than going out, and just as much of a pick me up. And it's also super simple and easy to make. Plus gluten free. Oh, and I have written before that I have a sensitive stomach; the dairy in this recipe is more easy on the stomach, as it's made with only aged cheeses and cream, all easier to digest (for me anyhow) than standard cheese and regular milk.

I couldn't figure out what to call this recipe, because what I really wanted to call it was "Grown up mac and cheese", but restaurant style pasta with three cheese sauce will have to do.

Restaurant Style Pasta with Three Cheese Sauce Recipe -- Easy, Gluten Free, and Delicious

Ingredients:
2 inch cube butter or 2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion
5 cloves garlic
1-2 cans chopped mushrooms or equivalent amount fresh or 2-3 cups chopped fresh spinach or lambsquarters or other non bitter greens
2 1/4 cup cooking cream
1 1/2 cups grated or chopped cheddar cheese or Swiss cheese (I made this one time with cheddar, one time with Swiss, and both ways are amazing)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup blue cheese
2 packages gluten free or regular pasta
2 teaspoons salt or to taste
1/4-1/2 teaspoon black pepper or to taste
Parsley to garnish (optional)

Instructions:
1. Cook your paste until al dente. Since I used rice noodles that didn't require cooking, only soaking in boiling water, I made sure to take it out of the water before it was completely soft.

2. Melt your butter/heat your olive oil in a large sauce pan.

3. Dice your onion and mince your garlic, then saute in butter/olive oil until translucent.

4. Add your mushrooms or spinach or lambsquarters and saute until browned/wilted.

5. Add the cream and the cheeses to the sauce and heat on a low flame, stirring often, until fully melted.

6. Add the strained cooked pasta to the sauce.

7. Add salt and pepper to taste, as necessary.

8. Garnish with chopped parsley when serving.

Enjoy!

What is your ideal comfort food? Does this look like a recipe you'd try? What is your favorite recipe involving pasta and cheese?