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cuppacocoa
July 9, 2016

Life’s been good.

Here’s what I’ve been up to lately:

  1. These chocolate chip cookies are amazing. They come out chewy, buttery, savory-salty in a great way, gooey, chocolatey, crisped up just right… possibly my new favorite, which I really didn’t think could happen.
  2. Good Old Fashioned Pancakes. They are really truly fluffy pancakes. I can’t think of how many times a pancake advertised itself as fluffy and came out disappointingly flat. This batter was unusually thick and, well, fluffy even when I dropped it on the pan, but nothing weird happened. Just satisfyingly fluffy and moist pancakes when they finished. I added banana slices to mine. Blueberries next time. Yum.
  3. Carving out some ME time. Like, I actually asked my husband for a day off, and he took a day off from work that very week so he could give me a real day off! I went shopping. Like, real shopping where you browse at your own pace, try on clothes, and wait in line to buy the things you decided you liked. Cannot remember the last time I had the luxury of time and space to do that! I also visited the great outdoors (for a whole 30 minutes…) and got a massage. Aw yeah.
  4. Getting swamped in preschool research again. I had actually already gone through all this in January and applied and enrolled and everything. Done. But now it’s July and my child has already changed and grown so much since then that I’m reevaluating our whole arrangement. Of course it’s the Bay Area, and it’s July… which means I am way behind the game now if I want to actually get into one of our top choices. We’ll see! 😛
  5. I actually tried one of those TasteMade recipes someone posted on Facebook and the pasta I made was SUPER TASTY! It’s super not good for you (Heavy cream? Sausage? Cheese?!), but doesn’t that just convince you that it really does taste great? It does. It’s like the other creamy carbonara-y penne dish I love, but even easier. So I’m posting the recipe here for me, so I won’t have to search for and then scroll down to the bottom of this page to find the recipe on my phone. I served it with Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Orange Butter Sauce (recipe coming soon!) and everybody was very, very happy with dinner last night. Yum.

It’s been a pretty mellow but sweet summer, and we are enjoying these warm California days. Happy weekend to ya :).

Cajun Chicken Alfredo Penne
Serves 4

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Heat oil in a large pot over high heat. Cook the garlic, sausage, and chicken until garlic starts to brown and chicken is no longer pink. Sprinkle over the Cajun seasoning and stir to evenly coat the sausage and chicken.
  2. Add the cream, and bring to a boil.
  3. Add the pasta, stirring evenly until mixed.
  4. To finish, add Parmesan and parsley, stirring until cheese melts and pasta is coated with a thick sauce. Serve!

*Cajun Seasoning Recipe
adapted from this recipe on chowhound.com
Makes about 3-4 tablespoons of seasoning, though the recipe only calls for 1 tablespoon.

3 responses to “Cajun Chicken Alfredo (aka Penne with Sausage and Chicken in Cream Sauce)”

  1. Annie says:

    Thanks for posting this recipe Jo! I was craving creamy pasta recently and remembered the yummy pasta you made for us for MealBaby. I looked at your website to see if you posted it and made it. It is delicious :o).

  2. Sharon says:

    Nice post! I like this recipe, it’s very healthy and easy to do. Thanks for sharing!