Once again, I find myself unable to keep up with the followers and commenters here at Wednesday Spaghetti! This is amazing!

Please don't be shy.
All are welcome to join the blog and join us in our WedSpags!
Just ask.
Feel free to steal the logo at the top of the page as a button for your blog.

There are no real rules. You don't ever have to post, or you can post when ever you would like. I do ask that you do not promote your main blog here, but you will be listed in the sidebar and of course you are more than welcome to visit all the blogs there and introduce yourself to the WedSpaghers, and comments are welcome on every post. You may link to your main blog in your post or place a hyperlink or button at the end of your post but this is more about food and friends and family and fun more than it is about upping your subscription count.

This coming from a girl who loves to watch her numbers go up...

If you would like to join the blog, please send me an email at lora@arrowsmiths.com or leave a comment here.

If you have already joined but you're not listed in the sidebar, let me know and I'll get you there immediately. Most of us have more than one blog, and you are welcome to have more than one listed there. I promise I have not excluded any for content, but I have found myself behind on linking. Plus there was that one time when I was Spagging on company time and I hit X rather than Save.

Thanks to everyone who participates in this little old thing. It means the world to me to know that you guys make time to take time with the people you love. It's so important, and it's so easy to let days and weeks slip by without spending quality time with one another.

Wednesday Spaghetti with a twist

I'm thinking as much as I LOVE spaghetti, your guests might get a little tired of the same ol' spaghetti dinner each week. So here is a delicious recipe that is "spaghetti like" but not officially spaghetti. This is an easy recipe and the sauce can be made ahead of time. Wait to add the cream and parmesan until you are getting ready to cook the pasta and reheat the sauce.

Linguine with Vodka Tomato Sauce
2 tblsp. Olive oil
3 tblsp. Butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 can 28oz. Plum tomatoes (I usually used crushed tomatoes)
1 tsp. Dried basil
1/8 tsp. Red pepper flakes
½ cup vodka
½ cup whipping cream
¼ cup parmesan
12 oz. Linguine, cooked

Combine olive oil and butter in large pan. Sauté onion and garlic. Add tomatoes, basil, red pepper and vodka. Simmer about 10 minutes or until sauce is reduced. Add cream and simmer about 5 minutes. Add parmesan and combine with pasta.

And if you are looking for a family friendly dessert, try this one. I posted it not too long ago at Moms without Blogs. You can mix things up by changing the flavors of the ice cream and/or the flavors of the oreos. Yum!

OREO ICE CREAM DESSERT
· 1/2 gal vanilla ice cream, softened
· 12 oz Cool Whip
· 2 pkgs of Oreos, you will have some left over

For the crust, crush 45 Oreos and mix with 1/2 cup melted butter. Press into bottom and sides of 9x13 pan. For the filling, mix together the softened ice cream, the Cool Whip, and 30 Oreos broken into small pieces. Pour the filling over the crust and freeze for at least 2 hours or overnight. You will probably have some filling left over, which I pour into cups and freeze and it is like a DQ Blizzard.

Enjoy!
Jo
Under the Influence

Alright... so it isn't spaghetti, but...

So, I always make dinner for my little family (My Babe & pug), and this particular night I caught it on tape... I think this was on Thursday...

Here is a condensed version of my sketchy (but very yummy) cooking :)

Souvlaki pita sticks (much better when done on the BBQ, but hey... I'm an apartment goer so these were made in the frying pan)... with smashed potatoes!!! mmmmmmm.... oh, and a nice big bottle of Pellegrino to wash it all down... bubbly :)

Easiest salad for a tomato lover - just cut up the ripest one you can find, season it with sea salt and some herbs, then douse it in an oriental flavoured salad dressing (so creamy, soooo good - cuts the acidity of the tomato a bit).

Babe here, packing 'em down ;)

Pug here sat in for me in this pic... she later had her own plate. This is what it's all about isn't it... just sharing some good food with the people in your life (yes, I DO consider pug to be a person)...

... and the mess that is still waiting for me in the kitchen... *I am rather bad when it comes to cleaning up, even though I do it eventually anyways*

Happy Fathers Day!

www.fashionista514.com

My Very First Wednesday Spaghetti!!!

I have happily jumped on the bandwagon known as Wednesday Spaghetti!!!

Tonight was our first foray into the wonderful idea and tradition that is Wednesday Spaghetti, and I have posted a full recount on my blog, Seriously. No. Seriously.

Here's a synopsis...

Tonight we had 9 friends for a pot of spaghetti with sauce and meatballs... some garlic bread... watermelon... freeze pops... ice cream... brownies... and some extra treats brought by our guests... and we had SUCH a nice night. The kids played, the adults ate, the hamster had a workout and we can't wait to do it again next week.

Thanks to our guests for what you brought, but also for coming! What a great success!

Connor & everyone helps clean up!

Liam jumping in a mud puddle & the kids looking for a snake!

Addie eating an ice cream & the "kids'" table!

Have a Beautiful Weekend... and Never Forget...

Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. Look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true. Think only of the best, work only for the best, and expect only the best. Forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater acheivements of the future. Give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others. Live in the faith that the whole world is on your side so long as you are true to the best that is in you!

-Christian D. Larson-

www.fashionista514.com

Good Food and Friends and a Great Cause!!

OK, so its not Wednesday and I am sure we wont be having Spaghetti !

Tomorrow night we are all ( Hubby, Kylie, Trevor, and my nephews) off to the Relay For Life Cancer Walk in Gardner Mass. We do this every year. I had Cancer. My dad had Cancer. My nephew Liam had Cancer. We are all survivors.

My sister is a nurse and her hospital forms a team and we walk ... all night long!

The last few years we would go up and have a nice walk... have a little BBQ and then head home around 9PM.

Tomorrow we are actually camping out. Sleeping bags, tent... the whole sha~bang!

We are cooking hamburgers, hotdogs, pasta salad, chips, dip, veggies and dessert. There will be cupcakes (made by me!), cookies, banana bread, and lots more! We will walk the Survivors Lap and this year we will not only walk for ourselves but we will take my nephews hand and walk with him, as his mom ( my cousin) is gone. See, she and Liam's dad Todd were killed in a car accident last year. Liam is excited to walk tomorrow and we will walk with him... for Michelle would be proud that he is 5 years Cancer Free!!

So here's to good food, great friends and an amazing Cause!!

I will be thinking of all you other Cancer Survivors and those that have been affected by this terrible disease as I walk tomorrow!

What Really Matters

Don't let their flash blind you.

www.fashionista514.com

Cooking Club

Once a month I get together for a bunch of women for a cooking club that we do.  We put together a list of what needs to come to each get together and then we cycle through who brings what.  The hostess always chooses the theme and makes the main dish.  Usually veryone is encouraged to make something that puts them outside of their comfort zone, but sometimes - after a long week- we're more understanding when someone brings a loaf of store bought bread instead of making their own :)  But in general it's been a great way to try lots of foods we've never tried, or been too intimidated to make, it's a chance to connect with eachother without our children tugging at us and there's usually a fair amount of some kind of alcohol to help us relax.  

We've had invetive themes and not so inventive ones.  My favorite to date was our Indian themed night - someone brought the most amazing homemade mango chutney!  But we've also had 'Three Ingredients or Less', "Mediterranian", "Vegitarian" and this month's is "A Victorian Picnic" (and we've been told we can leave our petticoats at home).

I'd encourage anyone to get a group of friends together and try something like this.  It would be fun to do as couples also (our husbands call cooking club 'left over night') and as families though the dynamic would be totally different depending on how you set it up.  Family night might not be quite as gourmet :)

sunday brunch

went off with very few hitches.
A couple of the girls that were supposed to bring food had something come up last minute so we lived happily on cheeses with honey and cheeses with sea salt and cheeses with cheeses and biscuits and breads and sweets and booze. Real food may have just taken up valuable sweets and cheese and booze room in our bellies so it was just as well.

Because we are all somewhere near or past 30, I thought it would be fun to throw a girly girly tea party brunch because if you were born before 1980 you probably didn't get to have a princess party like all the little girls are having now.

And we deserve it, dammit.

I dusted off the china that hasn't been used in over 40 years (seriously). I sidewalk chalked my front pavement with hearts and flowers and stars and swirls. I glittered a path to my front door. There were candies and tiaras and lip glosses and nail polishes and Lisa Frank stuff and jewelry and all sorts of things all over my house. And glitter. And I blew up over 100 balloons and let them bounce around the living and dining rooms. And there was glitter. And we drank peach nectar with peach schnapps&blueberries&Asti and we drank gin&lemonade and we drank cans of Miller Lite and we wore fancy dresses and we talked about life and work and kids and dogs and sex and drugs and rock and roll.

And we may have listened to NKOTB. And LL Cool J.

Recipe: Pasta with goat cheese and asparagus

Shake things up at your next Wednesday Spaghetti with this super-easy, but really tasty, pasta recipe.

Pasta with goat cheese and asparagus
1 lb. spiral pasta
4 oz. log of fresh goat cheese
1 bunch of asparagus, cut into pieces about 2 in. long
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
1 or 2 cups fresh chopped basil
olive oil
salt
pepper

1. Boil the pasta for about four minutes, adding a few dashes of salt after the first minute or two.
2. Add the cut asparagus to the boiling noodles and allow the pot to boil another two or three minutes. (The asparagus should be tender but still firm.)
3. Drain the pasta and asparagus together, reserving one cup of pasta water.
4. Meanwhile, combine olive oil, lemon peel, basil and cheese in a large bowl, breaking up the goat cheese as you put it in.
   
5. Add hot pasta and asparagus to bowl, along with a couple slashes of the pasta water. Toss until smoothly combined, adding more pasta water if needed.
   
6. Season generously with salt and pepper.