Caprese Pasta

This isn't a baked recipe, but it is just so delicious and easy that I can't wait to share it with you!
Easy is good.   Everybody loves easy!
My family EATS this up and if there happens to be any left, makes sure that it's GONE the next day!
I make this at least four times a month and I have no idea why it took me so long to figure it out.  It would have been a wonderfully quick dinner to make when the kids were little and I needed dinner in a split second.
Oh well.  Everything happens in due time.
I put it together over the summer after we had had a caprese salad - you know, tomato, mozzarella, and fresh basil.
We were wanting pasta the following night, but I really wanted to serve it differently.
I have to say it was a wonderful surprise the way it turned out.
I'm sure I'm not the first one to come up with this, but the following is how I put it together.

Caprese Pasta - serves 4-6

1 lb. pasta
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound fresh mozzarella, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 14.5 ounce cans diced tomatoes seasoned with garlic and basil, undrained
2 teaspoons dried basil (I usually use at least 1/3 - 1/2 cup freshly chopped basil, but some little bugger's been eating my plant, so I had to use dried tonight)

Cook pasta according to directions.  Drain.  Toss with olive oil.
While pasta is cooking, in a large bowl, combine garlic, and mozzarella.

Add both cans of tomatoes and basil.  Mix well.

Add the pasta and toss to coat.

Garnish with fresh basil, if desired.

* 5/20/12 - I've made this recipe quite a few times since I posted it and have found a better way to keep it warm than throwing all the ingredients into a bowl at the end which tends to cool it quicker. 
Boil pasta as directed and drain.
Place diced mozzarella and chopped basil in a large bowl.  
Then, in a medium to large pot (depending on how much pasta you have), sautee garlic in 2 tablespoons of olive oil until fragrant.  Add tomatoes and bring to low simmer.  Pour pasta into pot and combine.  Cook until heated throughout.
Pour contents into bowl with mozzarella and basil and mix.*

I rate everything I bake...ok, this wasn't baked, but it still deserves a rating and the 365 family unanimously gives it 4 rolling pins.
This dish is so absolutely deliciously yummy (that's not easy to say) and so very, very easy peasy!!
It can be made in under 10 minutes depending on which pasta you use.
I didn't have enough penne, so I had to use the rest of the noodles that were on hand.
Pasta's pasta and none of the family members really even cared.

I like to pour the tomatoes from the can into the bowl and not drain them because the sauce is absolutely wonderful when soaked up with a piece of garlic bread.
Oh, YUM!!
And trust me when I tell you that you really should use the fresh basil, and not dried.
Dried really doesn't do it justice.  It doesn't taste the same.  Believe me.
And of course, the fresher the mozzarella, the better.  Like the kind floating in the water and really white.  Not the shredded, yellowish mozzarella in a bag.  Unh-un.
I could eat this stuff at least once a week.
I think once our second daughter goes off to college in the Fall, we may be doing just that.
The man and the boy who'll be living here with me, I know wouldn't mind it one bit.
They're my pasta monsters.

Enjoy!
I give you BIG baking hugs and muffins!!