A great Spring time recipe is our New Peace, Love and Happiness Pasta in a delicious Lemon Shallot Sauce. This is a great, vegetarian recipe that is as earthy and delicious as it sounds. It pairs so well with the shapes in this pasta- making for a great dinner or side dish. Loaded with vegetables it is healthy and delicious both hot and cold! The recipe comes on the back of this pasta or just follow the instructions below to enjoy!

Step 1: The Ingredients!

14 oz. Bag of Peace, Love and Happiness Pasta, ½ cup oil packed sundried tomatoes, drained and chopped, 14 oz. can quartered artichoke hearts, drained, 3 oz. (about 3 cups packed) fresh spinach leaves, cut or torn, ¾ cup minced shallots (about 4 medium sized shallots), 1 T. olive oil, ½ cup lemon juice (fresh squeezed- Use less if you don’t love lemons), 2 cups vegetable stock, divided, 1 cup dry white wine or apple juice, 1 T. cornstarch, ¼ cup chopped parsley 1 t. (or more) dried thyme or 1 T. fresh thyme, Zest of 2 lemons (or 1 if you want more of a hint of lemon), Parmesan cheese for topping and Salt and Pepper to taste.

Step 2: In a large skillet or wok, saute shallots in olive oil over medium heat for about 4 minutes or until translucent.

Step 3: Stir in lemon juice, 1 cup vegetable stock, and wine. Bring to a low boil and cook for about 10 minutes. While it is cooking start boiling the water for the pasta.

Step 4: In a small bowl, whisk cornstarch into remaining 1 cup stock until smooth. Slowly pour in to shallot mixture, stirring constantly and cook until sauce is thickened and smooth, about 2 minutes. Stir in parsley, thyme, zest, and salt and pepper to taste.

Step 5: Add sundried tomatoes, artichoke quarters, and fresh spinach and stir until spinach wilts. Keep sauce warm.

Step 6: Cook pasta in gently boiling water for approx. 6 minutes until tender but firm (salt optional).

Step 7: Drain pasta and combine with sauce. Top with Parmesan cheese!

Bon Appetit!

-Megan Grehan

Our Ongoing Contest is a Great Way to Raise Extra Money! Follow the instructions below to enter.

Ongoing Contests:

Fun Pasta Fundraising Story Time Photo Contest~ April 1st~ June 30th~ Win $300
Submit a photo along with a story about your fundraising group for a chance to win $300! Just post your photo and story (less than 200 words) to our Facebook Event or email it to pastashoppe123@gmail.com. Include in your story why you are fundraising, what you plan to do with your profits or what you have done with your profits. We want to hear about your groups so please share with us! Entries will close June 15th and voting for the winner will be from June 16-June 30th at Noon CST!

Fun Pasta Fundraising knows how much planning and timing goes into a fundraiser. So we have a helpful timeline about how it all works! When starting a fundraiser this a great place to begin. Plus you can click on all the steps throughout the process and they will bring you right where you need to go! This is just a picture of the timeline, but click here for the interactive version!

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What do I do if one of my participants turns in the order after we have already turned in our main order?!?!

We actually have a great option for late or forgotten orders that turn up after an extra day, or even weeks! We always pay for your shipping on your main leader order, but if you need to place an additional order, we only charge a flat rate of $9.95. This is a super easy process, all you need to do is log into your account and click a few buttons!

Once you have logged into your account, you will go to “participants/orders” and click on the “add additional order” button on the top left hand side. Once you have placed the order, you will receive a new total that includes shipping and gives you the 40% profit immediately. As soon as we receive the payment for the extra order, we will ship your pasta right out!

You can place more than one additional order if you need to. As long as your account is still open, you can place one every day, if you want (though not recommended). If you ever have troubles or questions, feel free to call us and we will be happy to assist you!

-Anna Morris

Fun Pasta Fundraising offers $10 gift cards  for iTunes or Wal-Mart for every $1,000 the group raises! These are great prizes for top sellers or to use to throw a celebratory party for your group! The better the sales the better the party or the more prizes there are to give out!

Another great idea is to use a Fun Raffle to give out the gift card prizes. For  every 4  items a person sells place their name in the raffle. So, if the person sells 12 items their name is entered into the raffle 3 times! At the end of the fundraiser pull out names to see who will get the prizes! The more you sell the better your chances are to win a prize! It is fun and a great form of motivation!

-Megan Grehan

Obviously, we want everyone to work with Fun Pasta Fundraising, but we are going to do our best to help you pick the right fundraiser for your group! Ultimately, our goal is to make our customers happy, which means, making sure you make the best fundraising choice for you and your group. If it is not Fun Pasta this time, maybe it will be next time. Our success depends on you, so we want to help any way we can. Here are a few things to think about when making your fundraising decision.

What type of fundraiser should I do?

There are Auctions, Bake Sales, Events such as a Talent Show or Walk-A-Thons and hundreds of different Product Fundraisers from Pasta to Candles. However, there are pros and cons to each.  The Association of Fund-Raising Distributors & Suppliers (AFRDS) has stated that product fundraising is more effective than other forms o f fundraising. Primarily because people are willing to make a purchase to support a cause (hence the growth of  companies such as Toms that gives a pair of shoes for every purchase). In fact, product fundraising works the same way, and is highly effective with much less work than event fundraisers. Anyone that plans an event knows it takes months. However, a product fundraiser can be put together in less than a month. So the decision is dependent upon how much time  you have, how many volunteers and the  organization and community you are working to support.

How often should I Fundraise?

Fundraising Burnout can happen, especially if you run more than 3-4 fundraisers a year. Running one a season is not a bad idea, but one every month can be too much. If people feel like you are always asking for money they are less likely to say yes. Not to mention the poor volunteers. So, pick carefully and space them out to see the best results!

I want to do a Product Fundraiser. How do I Pick a product?

There are so many choices! Pick something you think people will purchase (more than once). Pick something that is priced well for your community and most importantly, when you find something people like, make a tradition out of it! Other things to think about are distribution. A great reason to pick pasta is that it won’t melt, it probably won’t break, small orders can be taken home by the kids and most people love pasta! (We do offer gluten-free and whole wheat products too!) The fact is that there is something out there for everyone! However, choose wisely for great success!

Want to learn more about Fun Pasta? Request Information or E-Mail megan@pastashoppe.com!

-Megan Grehan

We took our bracket picks and made our own Pasta Madness Bracket! For a chance to win a Year Supply of Pasta Join and Play our Bracket: http://bit.ly/yQzKu0

“The Madness is Contagious”

-Megan Grehan

The “Fun Pasta Photo Contest: The Luck of the Irish”starts today! The winner will receive a $100 check for their group!

Contest Details:
St. Patrick’s day is all about being Irish, wearing green and eating green foods! Take a photo with your fundraising group along with any and everything green (including our Good Luck Pasta if you can!). Post your photo to our Facebook wall by March 16th! The Photo with the most “Likes” by Noon CST on March 16th will be declared our St. Patty’s day picture! The winning group will receive $100 check and featured on our blog on St. Patty’s Day.

To enter just post your Fun Photo to Facebook before March 16th! Gather likes and hopefully earn $100! Good Luck!

For detail and rules visit the Contest Section of our website.

-Megan Grehan

As many of you may know, having out-of-town friends and family order online can REALLY boost your profits. In 2011, we had a wonderful feature of Free Shipping for all online orders over $100. Now for 2012, we have lowered that to $75 to save your friends and family even more money. A $75 order consists of about 10-12 bags. We hope that this helps you sell even more while including your friends and family out-of-town in support of your cause! Remember, the best way to advertise for your online website is through Facebook, E-mails and Twitter. Take advantage of social media to spread the word about your Fun Pasta Fundraiser!

Click here to support a fundraising group!

-Anna Morris

The recent winner of our Fundraising Contest “We Fundraise Becuase…” let us know that the $100 their group won with a single picture will, “Help two students that are having a very hard time affording the trip!” Another recent winner let us know their $100 check helped to purchase the opening curtain for their performance! Whatever your fundraising  purpose, it is so exciting for to hear about what our fundraisers can accomplish with Fun Pasta. We know fundraising can be difficult at times, but remembering that the cause is worth the effort can keep everyone excited and selling. Which is why we love to hear where to money goes as well!

We want to thank everyone that works with Fun Pasta Fundraising! Please let us know what you are fundraising for so we can share your accomplishments too!

-Megan Grehan