Pasta and sausage in spicy cream sauce

This is an easy weeknight pasta you can do with leftover sausage... or even chicken or probably fish too. I'd previously made beer brats and since the package comes with 5 sausages, and my fiancee and I typically only eat 3 between us, I made up this pasta to use up the rest of the sausages. 

Ingredients:

2 cooked sausages (I used Beer Brats), chopped

1/2 fresh tomato, chopped

1 large or 2 small jalapenos, chopped

3/4 box Tri-Color Penne pasta (about 8 or 9 oz)

3/4 cup of heavy cream, or half and half

1 tablespoon Old Bay Seasoning

Salt to taste

Directions:

Cook pasta in salted, boiling water till tender. Drain.

In a  hot skillet, add a bit of butter or olive oil and fry the jalapeno and tomato for a few minutes. Add in the sausage, fry a few minutes in the pan to get a bit crispy on the edges. 

Stir in the pasta, cream and seasoning. Simmer on medium heat 5 more minutes. Pasta should absorb a lot of the cream but should leave a bit of sauce in the pan too. 

Taste and add salt if needed.

Baby's Breakfast

Served in a Hello Kitty bento side container, with apple slices.

 

That WTH is this face.

Today I discovered two things. 1. You can feed babies Cream of Wheat! and 2. My son hates it. 
Which, in hindsight, were both kind of obvious things. Then, I got smart and added a little Strawberry Jam and he couldn't get enough! 
Here is a simple, microwave method to make this yummy cereal, including add in's suggested by my friends.

Ingredients:

(baby-sized serving)

2 tablespoons Cream of Wheat (found in the cereal asile)

3/4 cup milk

Directions: Combine ingredients in a (baby sized) microwavable bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds, stir, microwave 30 more seconds, stir... until it gets as solid as you like. I like mine the consistency of oatmeal, but some prefer it more liquidy, like porridge.

Add-ins:

Try one or a combination of these

1-2 teaspoons of sugar

1-2 teaspoons of butter

1-2 teaspoons of your favorite jam or jelly

dash of vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tablespoon cream (or your favorite flavored coffee creamer)

1 tablespoon of hot cocoa

1 squirt of chocolate syrup

Whiskey Spiked Banana Bread

What to do with super ripe bananas? Well obviously banana bread.
Tastes better every day. And it makes amazing French toast.

I tried to find a good recipe where I can use what I had on hand. I usually do something with sour cream, to make that lovely creamy, tenderness. To my surprise, I found this recipe just as good, if not better. And I didnt have to go to the store!

This one is based off of Jacked-up Banana Bread from Smitten Kitchen but I used whiskey instead of rum.

Whiskey Spiked Banana Bread

Ingredients:
3 ripe bananas
1/3 cup salted, sweetcream butter, room temperature (or microwave 10 seconds)
3/4 cupbrown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon mexican vanilla
1 tablespoon (ish) Jameson Whiskey
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/2 cups flour

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.
In a stand mixer (or in a bowl), quickly beat together banana and butter until mixed but chunky.
Add in remaining ingredients, except flour, mix.
Fold in flour.
Batter should have chunks of banana and butter and other ooey goodness.
Pour batter into prepared pan (I line mine with parchment for easy removal), bake for 1 hour or until knife or toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Tips:
Add in toasted walnuts and/or chocolate chips.

Yummy Ramen

There's so many ways to make ramen dishes. This is the one I use pretty often at home, though sometimes I'll change it up and add kimchee or do a fried egg instead of soft boiled or whatever seems good at the time. Oh, and bacon. 

Ingredients: 

1 package dried ramen, chicken flavor 
2 eggs 
furikake (japanese rice seasoning) 
sriracha (rooster sauce, or chili sauce) 
1 slice american sandwich cheese (dont knock it till ya try it!) 


 Directions:
 Bring water to boil in a small pot, add in noodles and crack in eggs.
 Gently stir the noodles to avoid popping the egg yolks. 
Let cook until noodles are soft and eggs are softboiled. Alternately, pop the yolks and stir gently to scramble it into the noodles. 
In a bowl, sprinkle in the chicken flavor seasoning.
 Add noodles and egg. 
Add in as much water as you like in your ramen.
 Top with furikake, sriracha and a slice of cheese (in that order, so the cheese melts on top). Eat!

Simple cucumber salad

There are probably millions of different combinations of pickle type recipes. It's all up to personal taste and what you have on hand.
This one is so simple and refreshing. It's tangy and spicy with a hint of sweet.  I like to add jalapeño peppers. You could use onion and garlic for a more savory flavor.

Ingredients:
1 cucumber, peeled and sliced
1 small jalapeño, chopped
(Remove pith and seeds for less heat, optional)
4 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon sugar

Mix everything together in a small container with lid. Shake. Refrigerate at least an hour. Keeps for weeks.

Serve as a side dish or in a sandwich or as topping for a salad.