Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Southwest Pasta Bake

Since I started my blog I have become very comfortable with experimenting. Well, tonight I threw this together myself and it turned out really good. I am Italian and I love to cook Italian. My husband LOVES LOVES Mexican. Tonight I put them together and it was awesome.It is a wonderful feeling when you throw ingredients together and the meal turns out so well. Thank you for visiting. Enjoy.

One more thing, I used a Southwest Chicken Sausage. It has tomatoes, spices, Cheddar cheese, and black beans in this sausage. It is the best sausage EVER. I get it at Petty's in Longwood, FL. The butcher makes it fresh every Saturday morning. I go...Especially for this sausage. You can use it for tacos, pizzas, queso's, soups or even pasta. My husband and I throw them on the grill and then throw them in hot dog buns. I top them with cheese, my homemade salsa (below), guac., and onions. SO GOOD....Anyway, that is what I used in this recipe.
2 TB Vegetable oil
4 links of Southwest Chicken Sausage
1 Red onion, Cut in half then slice thin
1 15 oz. can fire roasted tomatoes
2 1/2 TB lime juice
1 15 oz can black beans
2 ears of corn
1 cp. cilantro
1 lb. of elbow mac.
2 cps. Monterrey jack cheese
1. I heated a pan with the vegetable oil. Add the links and the sausage. When the sausage is brown and the onions are tender add the tomatoes and lime juice. Cook for a few minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients.
2 Heat oven on 350
3. Boil pasta.
4. Toss the pasta with the sausage mixture. Put in a 9x13 pan. Top with cheese. Cook for 20-30 minutes. When the cheese is brown and bubbly.
Angel Food Cake
12 egg whites
1cp flour
1 1/3 cp. powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 tsp. cream tartar
1 cp. sugar
1. Beat whites until frothy. Add the cream tartar and vanilla.
2. Sift the powdered sugar and flour together while the eggs are beating on high.
3. Once the eggs formed high peaks add sugar one TB at a time. Turn off mixer when the sugar is dissolved and there is peaks.
4. Fold in the flour and powdered sugar mixture 1/2 cp. at a time until well mixed.
5. Put in greased tub pan. Run a butter knife through the batter to get all the air bubbles out.
6. Bake on 350 for 45 50 minutes. When the cakes springs back when you press on the top.

Berry and Strawberry topping:

1 cp. blueberries

3cps. strawberries

4 TB sugar

3 tsp. corn starch

1. Add all in a saucepan on medium heat. Cook until sauce is thick. I put it in the fridge when it was done. My husband likes the sauce cool.

Put on top of the angel food cake with a scoop of icecream!!! Yummy!!!