{Pasta}

A comfort food that I can't get enough of is PASTA!

You could say I've been a little busy lately, so yesterday I treated myself to one of my all time favorites...and I actually don't know the name of it.  It is 100% authentic, taken straight from an Italian cookbook owned by none other than Charlie Roberts <3  (forgive me if I haven't remembered it exactly Charles)

It's incredibly simple and so delicately tasty.

Preheat your oven to 325 (I never remember to do this)

Start with 1 lb of fusili noodles (any spiral noodles will work) - oh and I'm making guesses on sizes here. I still don't have the good habit of keeping track of amounts I use. - throw the noodles in a salted pot of water.

Next comes your yummy yummy sauce.  Take 4 tbsp of olive oil and throw it in the base of a sautee pan.  Heat it up!  Next, take about 7-8 Roma tomatoes and seed em...get rid of the juicy nastiness that I hate so much!  Throw those in the heated oil and add maybe a tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp of pepper (just keep it a 1:4 ratio and you're good to go).  Then sprinkle in a generous amount of oregano (lets say 1 tbsp) and let it simmer and soften those tomatoes.

While the simmering is going down, get the cheeeeeese out (I love cheese).  Because I'm on a single-living budget, sometimes I cheat and get the mozarella cheese from the lunch meat area (DON'T tell Charlie!) but REALLY make sure you get the parmigiano-reggiano cheese for the sprinkling on top.  Cut about a cup and a half of little cubes of mozarella chunks and shred maybe a cup of the parmigiano-reggiano. Once the noodles are al dente, drain them and put them in a barely-greased baking dish (I never usually grease the pan - but I thought I'd put it in for formality's sake).  Dump your little mozarella cubeys in and mix it all in - this will be your binding ingredient.  It will get all tangled and mixed up in the spiraly noodles :)  Next, dump that tomato mixture you've probably forgotten about in and very gently mix it in the noodles as well (remember this is a LIGHT pasta - don't expect the thing to be drenched in tomato sauce) After that, sprinkle your oh-so-delicious parmigiano-reggiano cheese on top.  I usually add more than necessary, but like I said, I have a mild obsession with good cheese.

Throw it in the oven to mix it all together for ten minutes and serve warm! (preferably with some french or garlic bread)

My life is awesome once I sit down to a plate of this deliciousness.

I wish I had pictures for you.  I would whine that I don't have a camera, but that is my own fault.  I do have my phone though...hmmm I'll think about that next time. But for now, I will simply document the first time Charlie and I made this beautiful piece of art!  Aaahhh the memories :)

Please watch this video: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1092084985487&comments&set=t.642171358&type=1

Hopefully it won't take me another three months to post :)

Guess who's not a blogger?

I do want to be better at this, really!  It seems that I'm my mom's clone in all areas except one vital area...creativity.  Ask me to blog, scrapbook, create, be artistic and I will simply laugh at you!  But I am almost out of excuses.  I graduate in a matter of days at this point and no longer have the "I'm too busy" excuse to use in any aspect of my life :) 

I'm resolving to keep a camera with me when I cook, in order to blog and keep better track of recipes I try and things I create in my only artistic outlet...Mom always says my talents are being hidden when I don't develop them!  So here's to you Mom...

For now...just enjoy what I have been doing with my time.  Like playing with the cutest girl on the face of the planet!

 

I could eat her up!  More to come!...I hope :)