Ham Asparagus Pasta Dinner

~I came across this recipe on the Internet right around Easter.  We had asparagus, red bell ~peppers assorted pastas and a whole lot of ham left over from Easter Sunday Dinner so we ~decided to give this recipe a try and I am glad we did.  It was delicious!  The recipe is ~printed below exactly as it was on the Internet.  I believe it was in a Taste of Home recipe ~collection and the original author is listed in the opening paragraph of the recipe. 

~We did have to make some substitutions but it was apparent that this recipe is very ~forgiving.  We only had a red bell pepper so we used that.  We also substituted the pasta ~that was called for with a type that we had on hand known as Cavatappi.  (I think small Ziti, ~shells or even elbow macaroni could be used here.)  As we did not have any fresh tomatoes ~on hand, we used one 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes, undrained and one 14.5 oz. can of ~diced tomatoes with basil and garlic, also undrained, in place of the fresh tomatoes that ~were called for.  As I said, this recipe is very forgiving.  In the future we will try this recipe ~with Italian sausage or perhaps even chop meat, (beef), that you would use to make ~hamburgers. 

~Finally, as we are both cheese hounds, we piled on coarsely grated Parmesan and mixed it ~in at the table.    

  YUM, YUM!