What I do when I'm hungry...

...and have no idea what I want to eat, and a pantry full of random foods.

I make a Sausage and Orzo-laya.

Ingredients:
1/2 box of Orzo (cooked 2 mins prior to al dente, or for about 4-5mins)
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 tbsp of: red pepper flakes, Onion Powder
1/2 tbsp of: garlic powder, dried oregano, honey
1/4 tbsp of: kosher salt, ground sage
2 tbsp of Molasses
1 bay leaf
3 Sausages (Sweet Basil Sausage)

Directions:

1. Cook pasta just before Al Dente
2. Cook sausages (split in half down the middle)
3. combine all of the rest of the ingredients in a saucepot and bring to a boil
4. after the sauce reaches a boil, cut up sausages (they should be mostly cooked by now, with nice charring on the outside) and lower heat to a simmer, and simmer for 5 mins
5. drain pasta, (save about 1/4 cup of pasta water for the sauce)
6. add pasta water to sauce, bring to just above a simmer for a couple mins
7. add pasta to sauce, reduce heat to low, and cook for another couple mins

Garnish with cheese.

YUM!

note: if you're not up for spicey foods, either reduce the red pepper to 1/4 or 1/2 tbsp. no omit all together.

now, pics!

The tomatoes and various spices


Sausage!


Pasta water + sauce


The Orzo


Sauce is simmering! Oh, and the sausages are bathing...


Voila! Sausage Orzo-laya!


The charring of the sausages definetly add to the flavor of the dish. Next time, I'm guna reduce the amount red pepper flake...the heat is a tad overpowering.

Yum none the less!

Slowly....not so surely.

So it's been a while since I've revisited my thoughts on pursing a culinary education. I had always thought that I wouldn't need any formal culinary education, but that's when I figured that I would start and stop my culinary dreams with a Diner...or two.

But, after months of some careful thinking, I moving towards recieving formal education and hopefully working in fine dining for a couple years before embarking on the creation of my varied restaurant empire.

Who knows where I'll end up, but right now, it looks like I'm shooting for NY with a stint at the French Culinary Institute.

Cake!

Ok, so I know it's been a while since I've posted here. (But really, I doubt many actually read this.)

So I finally made a cake. By that I mean, it turned out how cake SHOULD turn out. Spongy, moist, and tasty. Not flat, under cooked, cloying-ly sweet.

So I made a white cake with White Chocolate Creme Cheese Frosting with a Milk Chocolate Drizzle.

Like usual, no pics. I need to just leave my camera in the kitchen from now on. -sigh-

It was tasty tho. I loved how the frosting turned out in terms of flavor - it wasnt too sweet, the tangyness of the creme cheese definitely came through. But it was a little too loose for my liking...oh well. next time.

And I have nearly perfected my triple chocolate chip cookies (white, dark, milk). Mmmm.