Pasta Al Forno aka Sweet Heaven

1 lb. sausage (optional)
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 stalk celery finely chopped
1 carrot finely chopped
2 mushrooms finely chopped
3-5 cloves garlic minced
28 oz. crushed tomatoes
1 pint heavy whipping cream (or canned milk)
1 lb. Rigatoni pasta
mozzarella cheese
fresh or dried Basil

Brown sausage. Remove sausage, leaving pan dippings. (Add some olive oil if you choose not to use sausage). Add carrots, celery, and mushrooms to pan and "sweat" (cook for several minutes until tender). Add onion and garlic and saute for several minutes.

Add can of tomatoes, with salt, pepper, and basil to taste. Simmer about 20-30 minutes.

Cook pasta al dente. In large baking dish, put a tiny bit of sauce on bottom. Layer 1/3 pasta, the 1/3 cream (if you're being healthy use canned milk), then 1/3 cheese, then 1/3 sauce twice. On the last layer, switch sauce and cheese so you end up with cheese on top. Cover and bake 45 minutes at 350. Uncover and bake til cheese is bubbly. Add Parmesan at table.

Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Glaze

You thought the last one was bad for you, you'll really like this. But, I've gotta say, the taste is pure heaven. I hope some of you dare to try it like I did because it was sooooo worth it! Do you guys check the Pioneer Woman's website? How often? I love it because she has pictures of every little step (perfect for me who sometimes needs a little extra help) and then just the printable recipe at the end.
The Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls

Alfredo Sauce

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

DIRECTIONS

1. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium low heat. Add cream and simmer for 5 minutes, then add garlic and cheese and whisk quickly, heating through. Stir in parsley and serve.

Note: I didn't have cream so I used canned (evaporated) milk. Delightful.

Tiny Pies in a Jar

Check out the instructions for these darling pies here

Divinity

In honor of Grandma Brown, I made Divinity the other day and thought it'd be appropriate to post here.

Divinity

• 4 cups sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup corn syrup
• 3 egg whites
• 2 tsp. vanilla

Mix sugar, water and corn syrup in a medium sized pot and boil until it gets to the hard crack stage. You don't have to keep stirring it, just put the lid on and check it every once in awhile. It will also change color a little bit and be yellowish. Beat the egg whites until stiff...if it makes peaks when you pull out the beaters then you're good to go. Add the candy mixture to the egg whites very slowly. If you're using a hand beater, first make sure it's a sturdy one (I blew one up on my first divinity attempt), and you'll need someone else to help you pour the candy in. If you've got a kitchenaid, just whip it on high and pour the candy in yourself, I repeat, very slowly! Continue beating until it starts to lose it's gloss. Mix the vanilla in by hand and drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper (or tin foil if you're out!) Enjoy! This always reminds me of Grandma!

Easy Breezy Breadsticks

1 Tbsp. yeast
1 1/2 c warm water
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 c flour

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in quite warm water. Mix the rest of the ingredients. (The girl I got this recipe from used her bread maker). Roll the dough out into rectangle and cut 1" wide and however long you want your breadsticks to be. Butter the top before cooking. Can add garlic salt, parmesean cheese, basil, etc. You can raise them a little before putting them in the oven, but she said that they raise plenty in the oven too. Cook at 375 for 20 min.

Zucchini Soup

So, if you're like me, you might just have a lot of zucchini that you are running out of ideas on how to use. This is a recipe that my mom just recently tried and it was delicious so I decided to try it today. Just finished it and added a few extra spices and it is delicious.

1 onion (diced)--I used yellow onion
1 Tbsp. butter--I used olive oil

Saute the onions until transparent. Add the following:

4 cups chunked zucchini (if you want the soup to be dark green leave peel on or peel it for lighter green)
3 cups chicken broth

Cook 15-20 min. or until tender. Puree the whole mixture in blender, then pour back in pan.

White sauce:
In separate pan melt 1 cube butter. whisk in 3/4 cup flour. Continue whisking while adding milk (half and half was the original recipe, but evaporated milk works wonders--I used 1 1/2 cans evaporated milk). Stir until smooth but be ready to take it off because it thickens in a hurry.

Add white sauce to puree zucchini mixture and whisk it in until smooth. Add 1/2 tsp. Nutmeg (I also added a couple dashes of cinnamon and "Pumpkin Pie Spice"). Salt & pepper to taste. The original recipe said to sprinkle with cheese before serving, but I didn't and it was delightful.