Sausage Rigatoni

Last month, we headed to Savannah for a one day trip.  (It was 8 hours of driving but it was totally worth it.)  We started our day in Savannah by touring Armstrong State University.  (It is still hard to me to wrap my head around the fact that I have a child who will be going off to college in a little over a year.)  We left Armstrong and headed to the soccer field where my daughter's travel team played a great game.

After the game, we headed to downtown Savannah and River Street.  We walked up and down the historic cobblestone street, popping in and out of interesting shops as we went along.

Of course, we didn't want to miss the candy shops either.





Before we left Savannah, we stopped by the Crab Shack on Tybee Island for a much needed dinner.  We ordered the sampler platter for four - shrimp, dungess crab, snow crab, crawfish, mussels, corn, potatoes and sausage.  It was HUGE. 

The highlight of the meal? - a hole in the middle of the table with a garbage can underneath to catch all of the trash.  (A concept that the kids thought we should institute at home.)  We ate a lot of the platter but we had quite a bit of the sausage left and being one who never wants to waste food, I packed it up and brought it home with us. 

My daughter was especially fond of the sausage so I came up with a recipe with her in mind that was loosely based on a Johnsonville Italian Sausage Rigatoni recipe from an ad in my Taste of Home magazine.

Sausage Rigatoni
1 pound Mild Sausage, cooked
8 ounces rigatoni pasta
1/2 large red pepper, diced
1 Tablespoon parsley
1 Tablespoon oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 26 ounce jar pasta sauce

Cook noodles according to package directions.

Heat olive oil in skillet.  Add garlic and cook 1 minute.

Add red pepper and cook until softened.

Add pasta sauce and simmer until thickened slightly.

Remove casing from sausage and add to sauce along with noodles.

 Serve in pasta bowls.  Sprinkle with fresh parsley.

I made this pasta dish at 2:30 in the afternoon.  (Doesn't everyone cook dinner in the middle of the day?)  I put it in the refrigerator and we each pulled out our portion and heated it up during our various dinner shifts.  It was really good and nobody even noticed that it was leftovers!

Ciao!

Blueberry Dumpster Cobbler

I had a friend who has been telling me about the Engine 2 diet and it has taken me months to actually get on the website and figure out what it was all about.  I won't go into the specifics about the diet or how it originated - I'll let you navigate specifics on the website for yourself.  I will tell you however, that there are some great "plant-strong" recipes on the website and they are worth checking out.  I made a version of the Blueberry Dumpster Fire Cobbler recently and even though it didn't turn out quite like I had imagined, it was a nice treat.  I am going to give you my version of the recipe.  If you want the original cobbler recipe, you will have to check out the Engine 2 website. 

Blueberry Dumpster Fire Cake
Preheat over to 350 degrees.
Ingredients:
2/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon vanilla
2/3 cup milk substitute
3 tablespoons agave nectar
1 cup blueberries

 







Instructions:
Combine flour and baking powder in a small bowl.
Combine vanilla, milk substitute, and agave nectar or maple syrup in a measuring cup.
Add contents of measuring cup to dry ingredients and mix until smooth. The batter will be runny.








Pour the batter into a non-stick 6-inch square pan.

 
Sprinkle the blueberries over the batter.

Bake for 45 minutes or until browned.







Cool on wire rack.

 Cut into 4 squares to serve.

This little cake was not very sweet but really highlighted the flavor of the blueberries.  It was simple and easy to put together and a little 6 inch cake is just the right size.  Be sure to check out the Engine 2 website for more information and some great recipes. 

Ciao!

Cat in the Hat Cake and Cupcakes

Sometimes I get asked to make very specific cakes.  Clients will email me pictures of cakes that they want me to recreate and tell me what flavors, icing and colors to use on the cake.  Other times, clients give me only a general theme or color to work with and the rest is up to me.  I recently received an order for a small cake and cupcakes for a Dr. Seuss party.  It was up to me to choose the design of the cupcakes so I headed to the internet for inspiration.  Wow.  I guess it goes without saying that Dr. Seuss cupcakes were over the top.  They were bright and colorful and quite honestly, it was hard to narrow down my top 3 favorites.  I ended up sticking to a Cat in the Hat theme and I made the cat's hat, the fish and thing 1 and thing 2 cupcakes and a mini cat in the hat cake. 

I ended up making my own version of hat cupcakes because I found some supplies that I thought might work even better than what I had seen on the internet.  

To make the hat cupcakes, you will need the following supplies:









1 bag of stuffer marshmallows
strawberry fruit roll ups
marshmallow sticks
white melting chocolate
wooden skewers










Start by cutting the marshmallow sticks into thirds with scissors.

Bend skewers at the top.

Insert skewer into the marshmallow.

Trim marshmallow stuffer into a circle. 
















Poke through the bottom of the skewer and slide up to the marshmallow stick.

Melt chocolate in a mug.  

Holding end of skewer, dip each hat into melted chocolate and then place in a styrofoam block to dry.

You could still see the color through the chocolate after the first dipping so I let them dry and then dipped them again.  Much better coverage the second time.  Cut fruit roll ups into strips and wrap around dried chocolate.

 Bake a batch of chocolate cupcakes.

 Frost with a ring of buttercream.

Top with blue tinted buttercream.

Add hats.

For the fish cupcakes, you will need the following supplies...






orange starburst candies (or tootsie rolls)
white pearls
black food coloring





Microwave the candy for no more than 5 seconds to make them soft and pliable.  

Shape each candy into a fish shape.  While it is still soft, insert pearls for eyeballs.  Use black food coloring to make pupils on each fish.

Bake a batch of red velvet cupcakes.

Frost with blue tinted cream cheese frosting. 

Top each with a tiny orange fish.

Thing 1 and thing 2 cupcake supplies

paper to print labels
blue cotton candy

Bake a batch of vanilla cupakes.

Frost with blue buttercream.  Top with cotton candy hair.

Attach a Thing 1 or thing 2 sticker to each cupcake liner.  (I printed mine on the computer, cut them out with scissors and hot glued them to the paper liner.)

What child could resist a cupcake topped with cotton candy?  My goal was to use child friendly ingredients to make the decorations.  Starburst candy, marshmallow sticks, fruit by the foot, melted chocolate and cotton candy seemed like much better decoration material than fondant or gumpaste for a children's party.  I hope the party was a big hit. 

Ciao!