Paglia E Fieno Alla Papalina

First, let me start by apologizing to the late Pope Pius XII and to Italians everywhere. This is not really Straw and Hay for the Pope. This is only hay (egg fettuccini) because there is a certain small town in Arkansas where you can not find straw (spinach fettuccini). I know. It's a shame, isn't it? I think I'll write my congressman. But first, here's a great recipe for those Friday dinners during Lent.

Straw and Hay for the Pope (original recipe from Nancy Berzinac's gift book, Pasta Favorites)

1 (9 oz) package fresh spinach fettuccine

1 (9 oz) package fresh egg fettuccine

1/2 butter, divided

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 cup (about 1/4 lb) sliced mushrooms

1 (10 oz) package frozen baby peas, thawed

1 cup julienned prosciutto or ham (opt out if your abstaining from meat)

2 cups heavy cream

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 grated Parmesan cheese

In a medium sauce pan, bring cream, 1/4 cup butter and pepper to a simmer (I add a little garlic powder).

Cook fettuccine according to package directions. Drain and keep warm.

Melt remaining 1/4 cup butter over low heat. Add onion and saute until soft. Increase heat to medium, add mushrooms and saute until tender. Add peas and proscuitto and saute another couple of minutes. Remove from heat and add to fettuccini. Add cream sauce to fettuccini, as well, and toss to combine.

P.S. Word is that before Eugenio Pacelli became pope, he requested a dish similar to carbonara but a little lighter, and this is what he got. With all that butter and cream, I'm not sure if I would call it "light" but it is good!

French Dip Sandwiches

My husband, WD, has been working the night shift this past month and usually leaves the house around 5 p.m. That means I don't have very much time after I pick Big pup up from school to get dinner on the table. I'm always looking for something fast and easy to prepare. Cue the sandwiches, please! You can't get more easy than sandwiches.

These French Dip sandwiches are really good too. After WD had gone to work that evening, I was getting the boys ready for bed and I got a text message from him. He wanted to let me know that he was still thinking about me the sandwiches we had for dinner and was wondering if there were any leftovers. Isn't that romantic? The way to a man's heart is definitely through his stomach.

French Dip Sandwiches (original recipe from Recipezaar)

1 lb thinly sliced roast beef

1 can (10 1/2 oz) beef consomme

1 can (10 1/2 oz) french onion soup

1 onion

2 bell peppers

sliced provolone cheese

1 pkg hard rolls

Slice onion and peppers and saute over medium heat until soft.

Simmer roast beef slices, consomme, and soup until heated through.

Slice rolls in half and put cheese on the top half--put under the broiler to toast and melt the cheese (does that make sense? You want the bottom half on the roll toasted and the top half with the cheese to be melted).

Take the toasty bottom half of the roll and dip it into the au jus, top with roast beef, add peppers and onion, then top it with the cheesy half of the roll.

Triple Chocolate Trifle

Look what I made for the Super Bowl festivities this past Sunday. It's a Triple Chocolate Trifle! And I will be making it for Valentines Day, and for the Daytona 500 coming up, and again for my birthday in March, and let's see, what else? I need more excuses to make this trifle! And I promise that next time I'll share more of it with my 4 year old. Earlier this week he kept asking, "Where's that thing we ate at the Super Bowl party?" And he wasn't talking about the spinach cheese dip either. So now I feel guilty and the only way to assuage my guilt is to make more. Yeah. That's it.

Triple Chocolate Trifle

1 pkg oreo cookies

3 TBS butter

1 large box of instant chocolate pudding

3 cups milk

1 box brownie mix (plus ingredients needed for mix)

16 oz whipped topping

cherries

trifle bowl--see what I used? It's actually a big candle holder that I bought to put Sangria in:)

Scrape the filling off of the cookies and put into a food processor to make crumbs. Mix half the crumbs with the melted butter and press down into trifle bowl.

Stir the pudding mix into the milk and after it's whisked together, stir in 8 ounces of the whipped topping. Add half of this mixture to the oreo crust.

Then add half of the brownies, broken into bite size pieces.

Then add a layer of 4 ounces of whipped topping, then the rest of the oreo crumbs, followed by the rest of the pudding, then brownies, then the rest of the whipped topping. Garnish with cherries.