Little Pickle

It's been a stressful week. There was yard work to be done before the rain came and work has been especially busy since I started the week travelling for work.

Then, as we were preparing to eat leftover brisket sandwiches, I got out the jar of pickles and found.....

Is that not the tiniest pickle you've EVER seen?!?! It's like someone knew that I needed to smile and planted that little guy in the jar especially for me. We put it next to the clothespin to give you a little perspective and as you can see our camera-shy Michael just couldn't resist! ha

Happy Thursday!

Pasta-thon 2: Pasta with Italian Sausage, Spinach and Peppers

The half-marathon is 4 days and a drive to Arkansas away, but the pasta keeps cooking. This recipe is from a magazine... either Martha Stewart, Rachel Ray's or Southern Living... don't have the original page anymore to give proper credit - my apologies. I usually half this one because typically the pasta's with wilted spinach aren't as good reheated as they are round one.

INGREDIENTS
- 20 oz. package sausage (we like the pecan jalapeno kind because we're spicy)
- 2 yellow bell peppers cut into bite size strips
- 1 small sweet onion cut into strips (sometimes I omit this, other times I use a quarter of a yellow onion)
- 14 to 16 oz. pasta (I use spaghetti or angel hair)
- 1 tsp. crushed red pepper
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/2 c. chicken broth
- 6 c. baby spinach
- Sprinkling feta or Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS
- Cook sausage in skillet until edges brown (note: I used pre-cooked sausage but do this to get the sausage hot and because I like the texture better).
- Add onions and yellow peppers and cook until tender.
- Meanwhile cook pasta with salt and red peppers added to the cooking water.
- Once pasta is cooked, drain pasta water (reserving a cup) and return to pan.
- Toss with sausage mixture. Stir in chicken broth and enough pasta water to thin (I rarely use the whole cup).
- Add spinach and toss until begins to wilt.
- Sprinkle with feta or Parmesan to serve.

Pretty pasta to serve, but cools quickly so you gotta serve fast!

Pasta-thon 1: Spinach, Tomato Bacon Pasta

In honor of Michael's approaching half-marathon and the long runs that have been part of the training, I'm going to post a couple of very easy and delicious pasta recipes we've discovered along the way! Enjoy :)

Spinach, Tomato and Baco Pasta
Pretty much the Quick Creamy Spinach & Tomato Pasta on All Recipes

INGREDIENTS

• 8 ounces angel hair pasta
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 2 cups baby spinach leaves
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon prepared basil pesto
• 5 slices of chopped cooked bacon
  

DIRECTIONS

• Cut the bacon into small pieces with kitchen scissors and cook in a skillet. Transfer cooked bacon to a plate with a napkin to absorb grease.
• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook per the package until tender. Drain.
• In the meantime, cook the tomatoes and spinach in the bacon saucepan over medium heat. When the spinach begins to wilt, stir in the sour cream and pesto.
• Add bacon and give the sour cream just a minute to warm up.
• Toss sauce with drained cooked pasta and serve immediately.

So easy and so good!