Sausage Rigatoni in a Spicy Vodka Cream Sauce

Ok, so I've been wanting to make a spicy sausage pasta for a while now...not sure why...maybe it's because I always use chicken in any pasta dish I cook...anyways, I found a few different recipes on the internet that looked interesting, changed 'em up a bit, and here's the outcome:

Ingredients:

• 1 pound italian sausage
• 1 pound beef link sausage
• 1 small chopped onion
• 1 jalapeno, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 heaping teaspoon Paprika
• 1 heaping teaspoon Italian seasoning
• Salt and pepper
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1/3 cup vodka
• 1 cup half & half
• 1 pound rigatoni
• 1 cup grated Asiago cheese
• chopped fresh Basil
• chopped fresh Parsley

Bring a pot of water to boil for the pasta. In a large saute pan over medium heat brown italian sausage and add your cut-up beef sausage link. Add onions, jalapenos and garlic and saute until softened, about 5 minutes. Add green pepper, paprika, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper, to taste, and cook a few minutes more.

Add your pasta to your boiling water and cook until al dente. Add your can of tomatoes to the meat skillet and simmer for about 10 minutes or so.

Now, add the vodka and half & half, and cook a few minutes more. Feel free to add real cream if you feel like living on the wild side. I'll stick with the half&half...it makes me feel better about myself.

Now, when everything is done, add your pasta to a big bowl, pour in your skillet creation, throw in your grated cheese and fresh herbs, give it a good mixin' and you're ready to eat!

This is absolutely delicious. I've made it twice in about a 2-3 week span. Oh, I forgot to tell you...I also sprinkled in some red pepper flakes to my meat/onion/tomato skillet while it was cooking. Just to give it a little extra kick.

Enjoy!

Frozen Pink Lemonade Pie

My mom used to make this all the time when we were kids. I had forgot about it, until the other day when I was trying to think of a good, fast dessert to make, and frozen pink lemonade pie was exactly what I was needing!

First, make a basic graham cracker crums pie crust. I just buy the box of the graham cracker crumbs and follow the instructions. You pretty much just add melted butter and a little bit of sugar.

Time to make the filling. Simply mix 1 (8oz) container of cool whip, 1 can sweetened condensed milk, and 6oz of frozen pink lemonade concentrate. This is half a regular size can of pink lemonade...some grocery stores have the mini cans which are exactly 6oz. While you're mixing, add a couple drops of red food coloring to make it look pink. I also added the juice of 1 lime. Now, this is not in my mom's original recipe, but I happened to have a lime on hand and thought I'd give it a try. It added just the perfect tartness!

Once you're all mixed up, simply pour on top of your graham cracker crust and freeze for a couple hours before serving.

Enjoy!