Fettuccine with a Creamy Tomato Sauce

Good Morning Friends! It’s MONDAY! CELEBRATE! Right?! Oh wait, Monday’s are allotted a dark cloud of doom. Crap. Monday. Oh man, it’s Monday. Good Luck.

In all seriousness, I hope you all had a fabulous weekend and will have an even more fabulous Monday. I had a great weekend. It was cold and dreary; the perfect Fall combination. Nick and I love the Fall and Winter seasons. I think Nick better appreciates October and November, but I love {the idea of a fall-ish} September, but definitely October through March. I love when the air becomes crisp and cool and jets immediately into a cold, wintery air.

Snow. Please come fast, hard & steady this year for me.

I sat around and watched movies and drank hot chocolate from a cup overflowing with whipped cream and curled up in oversized sweats with a blanket as an accessory. I was in heaven. It was the perfect fall weekend; I never wanted it to end.

But here we are staring straight in the eyes of Monday morning and all I can do is sip from my most recent cup of hot chocolate that still has far too much whipped cream for somebody of a higher sophistication than I.

Because today is Monday I have a Meatless Monday segment for you. It is delicious and would be a perfect dinner for tonight. Last week I was having a hard time finding inspiration; I was in a rut. While I was searching aimlessly throughout the big bad internet database of pictures, recipes, renditions and personal tastes it hit me that I wanted to make a pasta dish. {Mostly because I was running out of time, knew it would be a quick dinner and I probably had all of the ingredients I needed.} However, I needed to do something to kick up {what could have been} an ordinary pasta dish.

It was not ordinary.

Today I give you Fettuccine with a Creamy Tomato Sauce.

Nutritional Information:
Serving Size: 1/6 + 2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
Calories: 350.8
Fat: 12.8 g
Carbohydrates: 50 g
Fiber: 3.6 g
Protein: 7.6 g
Points+: 9

Here is what you will need:

Recipe Adapted from Ree Drummond: The Pioneer Woman

• Olive Oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 3 cloves garlic, pressed
• ½ tablespoon Cajun seasoning
• ½ tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 20 ounces tomato sauce
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• ½ tablespoon sugar
• ½ to ¾ cup heavy cream
• 12 ounces Fettuccine {3/4 box}

Directions:

• Cook pasta according to packaged directions. Drain, reserving 1 cup of pasta water
• Heat butter and oil over medium heat, add garlic and sauté for a minute
• Pour in tomato sauce, salt, pepper, sugar, onion powder, Cajun seasoning and cayenne pepper
• Stir and cook over low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot

• Remove from heat and stir in cream

• Stir in pasta and sprinkle a bit of parmesan cheese on top of the pasta
• Serve immediately & enjoy!

I LOVED this dish. I fell instantly, head-over-heels in love with this dish. I paired it with those spicy meatballs I blogged about last week. It was a perfect dish. I wanted to eat all of it, but I did not.

I hope you all give this a try. It’s a perfect fall dish and a great way to liven the recipe up a bit!

Until Next Time,

Happy Pasta Makin’

Pin It

Creamy Sausage Gravy and Biscuits

Making breakfast is what really inspired this blog. I began getting involved in breakfast making over the summer when I was with Nick at his house. Breakfast on the weekend is an absolute necessity in the Chaudoin household, so it was only natural that I start getting involved.

While his favorite breakfast is something called a juno [something that I will likely blog about later], I decided to make sausage gravy, biscuits and eggs. It was simple to make and delicious to eat.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound sausage roll [I used Jimmy Dean]
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups milk
• salt and pepper to taste
• biscuits [I used the grands flaky biscuits]

Directions:

• Cook the sausage in a large skillet over medium heat until browned.
• Stir in flour until dissolved
• Gradually stir in milk
• cook gravy until thick and bubbly
• season with salt and pepper
• serve over your hot biscuits

Now this meal could be considered complete with just the biscuits and gravy, but I love scrambled eggs. Therefore, I scrambled a couple of eggs and paired them with the biscuits and gravy... and voila, it was a perfectly warm and creamy breakfast!

Also, I have never used a roll of meat before and was very skeptical. However, once it warmed in the skillet it crumbled with some effort. Well worth buying a couple if they are sale [which they were here!!] This turned out much better than expected and will remain on my breakfast rotation for a long time!!

Until next time, happy breakfasting!! :)

Creamy Caramel Bars

I didn't know what to expect with these little cookie bars, but Nick and I think they turned out great! I made these for his work luncheon tomorrow, so I hope his coworkers enjoy these sweet little treats! 

This is what these little bars look like before they are complete.

Ingredients: 

• 38 individually wrapped caramels, unwrapped obviously!
• 5 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 3/4 cub brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cub butter, melted
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Yummy bars after the cooking process!!

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt together the caramels and heavy cream, stirring occasionally until smooth.

• In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda and salt. Stir in the melted butter until well blended. Press Half of the mixture into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking pan. Reserve the rest.

• Bake the crust for 8 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove and sprinkle with chocolate chips and walnuts. Pour the caramel mixture over the top and then crumble the remaining crust mixture over everything.

• Return to the oven and bake for an additional 12 minutes, or until the top is lightly toasted. Cut into squares while it is still warm.

I hope that you consider making these little guys. They are sweet and gooey and everybody should taste them at least one time!!

Until next time, happy baking!! :-)