Get Ready for National Spaghetti Day

by Victoria M. Johnson

What food is delicious, easy to cook, and has a national holiday?  If you guessed spaghetti, you're absolutely right.  This extra versatile Italian dish actually didn't originate in Italy.  Surprise!  Historians say pasta was invented in Asia and made its way to Italy in the 8th century. 

Pasta has become so prevalent that 55 pounds of pasta are consumed by the average Italian each year and the average American consumes 15.5 pounds of pasta each year.  No wonder spaghetti got it's own unofficial holiday.

National Day Spaghetti Day is January 4th.

Photo by Vitchakorn Koonyosying

The most popular ways to prepare spaghetti are: with pesto sauce, with alfredo sauce, or with tomato sauce.  Add seafood, or ground beef, or vegetables and you get a whole new dish.  Yum.  All this talk is getting me hungry.  Let's get to some mouth-watering recipes…

Spaghetti and Meatballs

The Delish website has a recipe for spaghetti with tomato sauce.  Did you know Americans invented adding tomato sauce and meatballs to spaghetti?

Spaghetti with Alfredo Sauce

Cook spaghetti in water as usual then add it to this recipe from the Food Network's Ree Drummond.

Spaghetti withBasil Pesto Sauce

Campbell's has a great recipe for pesto sauce that uses chicken broth.

No matter which way you serve your spaghetti, don't forget the vino.  What is your favorite way to cook spaghetti?  Let us know in the comments below.

Victoria M. Johnson knew by the time she was ten that she wanted to be a writer.  She loves telling stories and she's happiest when creating new characters and new plots.  Avalon Books and Montlake Romance published Victoria's fiction debut, The Doctor’s Dilemma.  Her other fiction book is a collection of romance short stories titled, The Substitute Bride and a novella, Hot Hawaiian Christmas. She is also the writer and director of four short films and two micro documentaries.   Visit Victoria's website at http://VictoriaMJohnson.com for inspiration and tips and find her Amazon author page or connect with her on Pinterest and Twitter.