Saturday, June 27, 2009

Our Favorite Recipe for Nick's Birthday

Happy Birthday, Sweetie!

The dinner I made to celebrate Nick's 30th birthday was so good that I just have to pass it on. It may not be "light" but was fun for a special occasion. I found this recipe in the Gazette on 1/7/09 in their "Take 5" column, submitted by Lynn Blase. It would be pretty difficult to make something that's not delicious with these 5 ingredients.

I even took a picture of all the ingredients like a fancy foodie blogger :)

I use Saag brand chicken sausage for this dish; they have a few varieties, and I believe the one I normally choose is Asiago-fennel flavored or something like that (they were out this time so I used plain chicken sausage). I also used penne pasta, because that's what I had, and gorgonzola cheese.


Apple-Sausage Rigatoni

Yield: 4 Servings

6 ounces dry rigatoni (about 2 cups)
12 ounces cooked smoked sausage, halved lengthwise and cut into 1-inch pieces
3 Golden Delicious apples, cored and cut into 1/2-inch slices
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup crumbled gorgonzola, feta or blue cheese

Procedure:
1. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain.
2. While pasta is cooking, cook sausage in skillet until lightly browned. Add apples and cook, stirring occasionally, until apples are lightly golden, about 10-12 minutes. Stir in cooked pasta, whipping cream and cheese. Heat through.



Also, I don't typically like broccoli, but this roasted broccoli was soooo amazing! I found the recipe on The Amateur Gourmet and simplified it a bit (I guess that means that I'm even worse than amateur when it comes to cooking). Basically, I tossed the broccoli florets with olive oil, salt, pepper, and sliced garlic and roasted it at 425 degrees for about 25 minutes. I added some lemon juice after it was done. Even Nick gave his approval; pretty impressive for something green!

I made a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting for dessert, and Baby gobbled down her little piece in about two seconds and started frantically signing for "more" when her mouth was still as full of cake as it could possibly be. I didn't get a picture of today's cake but here is one from a wedding we attended a couple weeks ago, just for fun!


With Grandma, eyeing that cake. Isn't it cute how they had individual wedding cakes at each table?


2 comments:

  1. Wow...if only Dan would eat fat (*sigh*). That looked SO good! If I made Dan his ideal birthday dinner it would probably consist of celery sticks and beans and rice :) He is kind of obsessive about fat :) Not me, however!
    And I can totally picture Claire with her mouth crammed full of food signing for more! :) I love it!

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  2. So, you can freeze cooked beans? That's a good idea! Then they're ready all the time.
    I think Joey has mange on his eyebrows :) I pick at it all the time and he hates it!

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