Midweek Dinner: Penne with Bacon, Spinach and Sundried Tomatoes

So.
When my dad went into hospice, I'd been planning to make this for dinner Friday night.  We packed the ingredients up and took them with us to my mom's house.  Friday night, we made this at my parents' house so that we could have something before going back to hospice.  Once again, I was playing around with my new Looneyspoons Collection cookbook.
I'm starting to think about next year and what I'd like to do cooking/blogwise.  I'm thinking about a challenge of trying 4 or 5 recipes out of one of my cookbooks each month.  When I look at how much I've made already out of my newest one, it could be fun.  Or I'll miss Janet and Greta a lot.  Hmmm...I have to think about that one.
Nevertheless, here's a rather quick to put together dinner that J and I both enjoyed.  I present to you now The Looneyspoons Collection's Penne for Your Thoughts:

Ingredients

1 c sundried tomatoes (not packed in oil)
340 g uncooked whole-wheat penne pasta
4 slices bacon, chopped
2 cloves minced garlic
2 c washed baby spinach leaves
1 c red onion rings
2 tsp dried basil
Ground black pepper to taste
1/4 Grated Parmesan Cheese

Method
1.  Pour 1 cup boiling water over the sundried tomatoes and let soak for 15 minutes.  Drain and chop roughly.  Set aside.
2.  Meanwhile, cook penne and drain.  Keep warm.
3.  Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat until crisp.  Do not discard drippings.  Add garlic and cook one more minute.  Add spinach, onions and sun dried tomatoes.  Cook and stir for 5 minutes, until onions are tender and spinach is wilted.
4.  Toss bacon-spinach mixture with pasta until evenly distributed.  Divide pasta between 4 dishes.  Top with peppe and Parmesan cheese.  Serve immediately.
Serves 4

Adapted from The Looneyspoons Collection

Here is the spinach being wilted.  There was lots of flavour and colour in this dish.  I think I could have drained the tomatoes better, though.  Next time.

Still yummy though.  Bacon, spinach and pasta...what's not to love?