Pastas

Artichoke and goat cheese Pasta (Chantal)

This is one of my new favourite recipes. It is based on a recipe from Fine Cooking, but I make changes depending on what I have at home. Here is how I made it today:  

Pasta of choice

4 links of chicken sausage (from De Luca's), cut in small pieces

3 tbsp oil from marinated artichoke hearts
1/2 onion

3 cloves garlic

2 cups marinated artichoke hearts (from De Luca's)
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (I didn't add this today as I was hosting mom's group and some of the babes were going to eat the pasta)
Coarsely ground black pepper
1/3 cup thinly sliced chives
2 Tbs. thinly sliced fresh basil
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

1 small package of goat cheese

 1 tbsp lemon juice

Saute chicken sausage and remove from heat. Saute oil, onion and garlic until translucent. Add artichoke hearts and herbs/spices and saute until the artichokes are goldenbrown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add cooked pasta and stir in cheeses, lemon juice and 1/4 cup of the water until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve sprinkled with the remaining chives and additional parmesan.

Spaghetti & meatballs
We have been treated to this delicious recipe everytime Jeff's mom is in town. We quadruple the meatball recipe so we have enough for 6 months. No point in getting your hands dirty for making a dozen meatballs. When quadrupling the recipe, we use 1 pkg of costo's hamburger and pork ground meat (~13 lbs). We use a whole bulb of garlic, 2 loaves of whole-wheat bread (the GF variety for me), a bunch of parsley and basil. Chris also makes us a marina sauce to freeze. It is based on this recipe. Enjoy!