Cooking and Cocktails

Happy New Year MIHM readers! The Girls Team is back in full force and ready for a new year of Monday night fun.

For Christmas, we both received a number of cookbooks, many of which belong to great Food Network Stars - Giada, Ina, Alton, you know the gang. These gifts have inspired the Girls Team to start attempting different dishes from various Food Network Stars on MIHM. 

Tonight, we started with Giada de Laurentiis and her recipe for Farfalle with Turkey Sausage, Peas and Mushrooms.

"Everyday Italian" by Giada de Laurentiis.

Here's the link to the recipe online, although it varies a bit from the recipe we used out of the cookbook. The cookbook says to use Italian-style turkey sausages which added a nice flavor.

Sea salt, pepper, olive oil, frozen peas, Italian-style turkey sausage, and cremini mushrooms.

And of course, Giada's Farfalle from Target! 

While the pasta was boiling in a large pot, the turkey sausage cooked in a big pan. Once the sausage was browned, we sauteed the mushrooms for about 8 minutes. Then we added the peas to saute for an additional 2 minutes. 

Sauteed cremini mushrooms.

Peas and mushrooms, with the browned sausage waiting on the side.

 After draining the pasta, we mixed all of the cooked ingredients with the pasta and then it was ready to serve.

Mixing with the pasta. 

Freshly grated parmesan to sprinkle on top of the pasta.

It took about 25 minutes from the time we started cooking until we plated the finished pasta. This is a great week night dinner because it is an easy recipe to follow and isn't too labor intensive or time consuming. It also made a ton of leftovers which are great for lunches at work for the rest of the week. Giada's recipe claimed to make 4 servings, but this made about 8 servings. I would definitely make this recipe again because it includes some of my favorite foods in one dish: mushrooms, pasta and sausage. YUM!

Served with fresh french bread.

Also this week, in the spirit of the New Year, we added another level to our MIHM fun...creative cocktails! One thing we really haven't shared yet on MIHM is how much the Girls Team loves a good cocktail :) We've decided that each night we cook a Food Network Star's recipe, we'll come up with an accompanying cocktail to try. 

Tonight, we made a Blueberry Press. We've had a Raspberry Press before and loved it, so we thought we'd try a different flavor. We used this vodka press recipe, but used blueberry flavored vodka.

7up, tonic, blueberry vodka and fresh blueberries.

I tend to order beer or wine when I'm out, because I really don't like cocktails that have a strong alcohol flavor. The Blueberry Press is equal parts refreshing and alcoholic :) It's not overly sweet, but doesn't taste like straight vodka - always a plus. Even better, when you're done, you can eat the fresh blueberry garnish for some healthy antioxidants! 

Served in martini glasses for some girlie flare.

This week's dinner was quick and delicious, and the Blueberry Press was a fun new addition. Here's to more cooking and cocktails in our future!