Halloween Garlic Butter Spaghetti

This will be the perfect Halloween ever! Temps are in the upper 60s and will drop to the upper 50s, the wind is low, the sky is clear, the moon is full, and tomorrow we all get an extra hour of sleep! Too bad I am not a kid anymore and trick or treating is not acceptable for adults. For compensation, Garlic Butter Pasta made Spooky style.

Modifications Made:

Spooky Colored Noodles ONLY: Took way more than a 1/4 tsp of food coloring to achieve brightly colored pasta. It took closer to half a bottle. Once noodles were cooked to very al dente, they were drained, and rinsed with cool water until the water ran clear of food coloring, and set aside.

Garlic Butter Pasta: Wine was omitted. Colored pasta was added to garlic butter sauce and tossed with mozzarella balls.

Scaled for Likeability: Good

Pasta had great flavor and no, it did not leave the mouth or plate stained. The cheese balls melted into a gooey mess than was not desired. Should have added to the tops of the noodles directly before serving. Serving pasta on a bed of arugula was new and well liked. Heat from the pasta slightly wilted the greens taking the hard crunch out of the bite. Arugula is spicy and offered a great contrast to the garlic pasta.

Would absolutely make this again but with a different garlic butter sauce as this was very lacking in depth of flavor. Maybe a recipe like this.

Papas a La Mexicana (Ranchera)

It is a crying shame that there are six hens and not a egg in sight. What am I supposed to do with homemade ranchero sauce? Thankfully with a few quick searches of the internet a recipe from my hometown newspaper was discovered: Papas Ranchera . Not once in the thirty years I lived in my hometown did I ever eat at a local food joint serving papas rancheras. No time like the present to remedy this cultural dish. Because this recipe is hidden behind a paywall (grrr...) I have included it here for you: Servings: 4-6 Ingredients: 1 pound potatoes, diced 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1/2 large onion 1 1/2 medium tomatoes 3 jalapenos 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup juice from canned tomatoes Instructions: Fry potatoes in vegetable oil until lightly browned (about 4-6 minutes). Saute onions, tomatoes, jalapenos until soft. Add garlic powder and salt. Add tomato juice until vegetables are covered (may need to add water). Bring to a boil and then add po...

Better Than Campbell's Old Fashion Vegetable Soup

Went to the store with the hopes of gathering fresh produce for soup. With more than 45 people in line for two packages of any meat product and the produce section containing only avocado, orange, and most randomly, strawberries, I settled upon canned soup. Well not canned soup since that section was still void of food, too. Instead soup made from canned goods as the canned vegetable section had been mostly restocked. Soups like this 15 Minute Vegetable Soup are ideal in dire food situations such as current times. Modifications Made: Plain petite diced tomatoes omitted, frozen carrots instead of canned, green beans and corn undrained, peas omitted (gross, nasty little pods), one cup celery, three cups diced potatoes, one can tomato sauce, two beef and two pollo de tomate bouillon cubes, six cups water. Once onions were softened, carrots/celery/potatoes/juice of green beans and corn, sauce, bouillon cubes, water were added and allowed to simmer until carrots almos...

Sour Cream & Chive Scalloped Potatoes

Can't believe the Month of the Potato is over. There are so many more potato recipes saved. Guess I will have to work them into another month. Last week's scalloped potatoes were one of the best new recipes during the month of potatoes. With today being the last day in the Month of Potatoes, I decided to go out with a bang by cooking another batch of scalloped potatoes but this time sour cream and chive. The Best Scalloped Potatoes , or so they said. Modifications Made: Recipe was reduced by half. Mayo was omitted and one entire package of chives were chopped and added to sauce before pouring onto layers. Scaled for Likability: Good Betty Crocker Sour Cream and Chive Box Scalloped Potatoes were the standard for this recipe. These were a family favorite for years but have long since been discounted. Bummer. Trying to replicate this seemed easy enough. Alas, it was not. These had a nice texture but were too oily from the cheese ...

Eating Waffles

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