Fun Foods ~ Creamy Bowtie Pasta and Smoked Sausage

So I was trying to figure out what to make for sinner the other night, and since I hadn't gone shopping all week (I'm like a thousand months pregnant, ya gotta give me a break) the only thing in my freezer was a package of Hillshire Farms Smoked Sausage.  So I went on-line to http://allrecipes.com to look for a recipe to use but I just couldn't find one that sounded good.  I did find 3 different ones that had parts of it that sounded good though, so I took a little from this one and a little from that one and made my own! It came out really good and will now be a regularly prepared meal in my house.

 Here is how to make it ~

1/4 cup butter
1 small white onion-chopped/diced (depending on how u like it
2-3 garlic cloves-diced
1lb Hillshire Farms Smoked Sausage-cut into thin slices
3.5oz pkg.  sun-dried tomatoes (I used the vacuum pack/ready to eat kind, but you can use dehydrated ones, just soak them in boiling water for about 20 min)
1 cup broccoli-cooked
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes (or more if you like spicy things!)
1 cup shredded mixed Italian cheese
1 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream (use more if you want it really creamy)
3/4 of a 16oz package of bowtie noodles
salt & pepper






*Prepare pasta according to package
*Drain noodles when done (add a little olive oil to keep them from sticking together if your sausage mixture is not done)


*Melt butter in pan
*Saute onions and garlic in butter
*add smoked sausage when the onions are kinda soft but not totally done
*add sun-dried tomatoes, mix well
*add broccoli, mix well
*add red pepper flakes, mix well
*turn heat to low
*add 1/2 the cheese and mix well
*add cream slowly and mix well

*Mix pasta and sausage mixture together, top with the rest of the cheese
*salt and pepper to taste

Fun Foods ~ Rainbow Cake

I actually made this for Easter this past year and it was a big hit.  It is actually very easy to make, so don't be intimidated and TRY IT! 


Step 1 ~ Use any box of light colored cake mix and prepare as directed on the box.  Decide how many colors you want to use (I used 6 for this cake) and separate the batter evenly into that number of bowls.  You have to use food coloring GEL to color your batter.  If you use liquid food coloring it will make your batter runny and the colors will mix and it wont bake right.  You can find food coloring gel on the baking isle of most any store.  You just have to look for it.  :)  

Step 2 ~ Layer your colors into your cake pan.  I used 2, 8" round pans and layered my cake.  I forgot to take a picture of layering the batter (oops!) but it is easy.  Just start with one color and drop it into the middle of the pan and drop the next color directly on top of it and so on....the batter will spread to the sides of the pan, you don't need to spread it yourself.  If you do you will just mix your colors.  If you are going to use 2 pans and layer your cake, remember to save enough of each batter color for the second pan!   This is what the cake will look like after it has baked.

Step 3 ~ After both cakes have baked and cooled I spread a light layer of frosting on the top of the bottom layer and stacked the second cake on top.  Then I put a light layer of frosting over the entire cake and put the cake in the freezer for about an hour to let it firm up.  Doing this helps keep your cake from getting crumbs in your frosting and will give it a nice even look when you finish frosting it.  Again, I don't have a picture of this step (I've never really done this instruction blogging thing before, Ill get better!).

Step 4 ~ After your cake has set in the freezer awhile, you can finish frosting and decorating it.  I'm not going to give instructions on how to frost the rest of your cake, if you are reading this, most likely you already know the basics of cake making. ;)  So, the following picture is of the 2nd cake I made because my kids and husband devoured the first one before I could get a really good picture of it, lol.

You can see that in this cake that I didn't use the color purple.  I'm not a big purple fan and I thought the color was just too dark for the cake so I left it out.  Next time I will layer the cake differently also.  The red and orange are too close in color and kind of blend together, so I will try putting the yellow between them next time, but it still looks really pretty (and it tastes good too)! 
If you have any questions just ask!  I hope you try it and love it! 

Purpose

I am not a blogger.  I am a Mommy with Monkeys (2 soon to be 3 kind, sweet, crazy little boys).  I love to learn how to do new things and I want to share them with other mommies with monkeys.  I will probably go weeks (maybe months) without posting and other times I will post 2 or 3 things in a row.  I hope everyone can enjoy and learn something from this, and please feel free to ask any questions that you might have about any of my projects!!!

 My Monkeys!


Athea