Kevin's Watch

Spaghetti a la Gondolier: Sauteed bell peppers, mushrooms, and pepperoni over spaghetti covered with homemade meat sauce & topped with melted mozzarella cheese.

Also had a Caesar salad. Gotta love Romaine lettuce!

STOP with the spaghetti eating! I am CRAVING it! I wants it! My precious spaghetti! It's one of my favorite dishes for sure.

Tonight I had liguini with red clam sauce, Hyperception had a Greek salad, and we split a 16" cheese pizza before hitting the road for FIL's. Tomorrow we head back home with Beorn. Freshman orientation is Thursday morning, and school starts Monday.

My vacation from parenting is at a close, although it never truly took place, IYKWIM...

Cameraman Jenn wrote:STOP with the spaghetti eating! I am CRAVING it! I wants it! My precious spaghetti! It's one of my favorite dishes for sure.

Heh heh. Foul cannot stop! It is his only weakness--that and Despite. And cuddling Foul Ducks.

spinach salad w/ soy chicken, onions, tomatoes, cucumber, soy bacon and italian dressing.

Lord Foul wrote:

Cameraman Jenn wrote:STOP with the spaghetti eating! I am CRAVING it! I wants it! My precious spaghetti! It's one of my favorite dishes for sure.

Heh heh. Foul cannot stop! It is his only weakness--that and Despite. And cuddling Foul Ducks.

Jenn...

methinks if LF joins us at the Atlanta 'fest that a big ol' batch of spaghetti needs to be in the plan somewhere...

Absolutely. I am actually gonna make up a batch tonight. I wanted to last night but we had to eat up them steaks.

Menolly wrote:

Lord Foul wrote:

Cameraman Jenn wrote:STOP with the spaghetti eating! I am CRAVING it! I wants it! My precious spaghetti! It's one of my favorite dishes for sure.

Heh heh. Foul cannot stop! It is his only weakness--that and Despite. And cuddling Foul Ducks.

Jenn...

methinks if LF joins us at the Atlanta 'fest that a big ol' batch of spaghetti needs to be in the plan somewhere...

An Elohimfest in Atlanta, eh? Spaghetti? Enticing!

Lord Foul wrote:

Menolly wrote:

Lord Foul wrote: Heh heh. Foul cannot stop! It is his only weakness--that and Despite. And cuddling Foul Ducks.

Jenn...

methinks if LF joins us at the Atlanta 'fest that a big ol' batch of spaghetti needs to be in the plan somewhere...

An Elohimfest in Atlanta, eh? Spaghetti? Enticing!

Enticing you was my intent, LF. Heheheheh.

However, with school the timing of the currently planned dates may be difficult for you. I think we said the weekend before Thanksgiving, November 16th through 18th, right Jenn?

Where is iQuestor when you need him...?

Just a ham sandwich and a glass of lemonade.

Tonight was teriyaki marinated pork loin chops on the grill and tossed salad for Hyperception, FIL, and me. Beorn had the chops and green peas with butter and a sprinkling of dill weed.

Sauce ala Jenn is simmering on the stove.

5 Basil and Garlic sausages
1 pound of ground buffalo
1 large white onion
1 can black olives
2 large red peppers
1/2 pound crimini mushrooms
1 large can peeled whole tomatos with basil (no salt)
1 can tomato paste
1 medium can whole fire roasted tomatos
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
oregano/thyme/rosemary, salt, pepper to taste
1 cup red wine
pinch of dried crushed hot peppers

This will get tossed over angel hair pasta, garnished with a cheese blend of two parts parmesan to one part aged asiago and one part romano and served up with some fresh garlic bread consisting of garlic and butter on a loaf of Italian Merano bread.

Having the O'Higgins brothers over dinner tonight, Tadhg and Niall.
The menu is:
Fresh fig halves and Taleggio cheese wrapped in prosciutto
Seafood fettuccine Alfredo with sautéed green beans
Garlic bread
Cherry cheesecake
Cabernet Sauvignon
Tawny port
Time permitting we'll play Carcassonne as well.

What have I eaten today? An expresso brownie and Kix with blueberries for b-fast, half a Wendy's Jr. cheeseburger for lunch, a few triscuts and Damm! I left the cup-o-soup in the microwave... I knew I forgot something...

MORE SPAGHETTI!! HA HA HA!

Cameraman Jenn wrote:Sauce ala Jenn is simmering on the stove.

Hoo-boy, does that sound good.

Mine is different, but we like it.

Pam's Meat Sauce for Pasta

1 lb. ground beef (I prefer chuck for sauce)
1/2 lb. ground pork
extra light olive oil
1/2 cup onion, diced
5-10 cloves fresh garlic, minced (we love garlic)
1 carrot, diced
1 rib celery, diced
1/2 green pepper, diced
1/4 lb. fresh mushrooms, sliced
28 oz. can whole peeled Italian style tomatoes, undrained
small can of tomato sauce (8 oz.?)
small can of tomato paste (6 oz.?)
3 fresh roma tomatoes, cubed with juice
Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot, to taste
juice of 1/4 lemon
splash of balsamic vinegar
1 TBS (or to taste) turbinado sugar or honey
salt, pepper, granulated garlic, oregano, basil, anise seeds, bay leaves, cayenne pepper or Tabasco Sauce, cinnamon (just a dash, I'm trying to put a little into everything), Italian Seasoning, etc., all to taste
Fresh grated parmesan or romano cheese
Fresh Basil

Brown the ground beef and pork until just cooked through. Drain off fat and reserve.

Pour a thin coating of extra light olive oil into a hot 8 quart stock pot. Immediately add onion and saut until just beginning to sweat. Add garlic and continue to cook until you get hit by the smell of the garlic, should be almost instantaneous. Add the carrot, celery, green pepper and mushrooms, one at a time until just starting to soften before adding the next vegetable. When all are softened but not mushy, add browned meats and heat through.

Keeping the heat on medium, pour the can of whole tomatoes into the stock pot. Use a spatula to break up the whole tomatoes into pieces (you can probably use canned diced tomatoes or break the whole ones in your hands before adding, but this is how I have always done it). Add the other canned tomato products and the roma tomatoes. Stir all with a spatula.

Pour a little wine into the bottom of the paste can (if you can, I open both ends and push on the bottom lid to squeeze all of the paste out). Swirl it around and then pour into the sauce can. Repeat, then pour into the whole peeled tomatoes can. Repeat and pour into the stock pot. Add the remaining ingredients to taste. Stir well, cover, turn heat down to simmer and cook for desired length of time. I prefer long cooking. To thicken the sauce, remove the cover about an hour before cooking is finished. Usually I'll put this on about 10:30AM and we'll sit to dinner about 6:00PM.

When you start your water for the pasta, stir in about 1/2 cup fresh parmesan or romano cheese. Stir. When you put the pasta in the boiling water, turn off the sauce and add fresh basil. Stir.

Cook pasta and add about 1/2 cup pasta water to sauce in the stock pot right before service. Stir to incorporate.

Note:
To make vegetarian, skip the meats and proceed from sauteeing the vegetables. Once everything is combined, simmer for 45 minutes.

Tonight I'm marinating three pork steaks from Sam's Club in lower sodium teriyaki sauce. I'll grill them and serve them with white rice and sauteed broccoli florets.

black bean burger, fries, strawberry shortcake

Had a meat lover's omelet from IHOP, three pancakes, and then later got a Heath Bar Blast from Bruster's.

I'm in use-up-the-high-fat-high-salt-stuff-in-the-house mode while MagickMaker is still home. So tonight it'll be pasta with (Bertoli's bottled) alfredo sauce (I might toss in a can of tuna), the rest of the frozen garlic breadsticks, and either green beans or steamed broccoli. For dessert, the lemon pudding left over from last night.