RussHutto.com

Alright, I went off on some food last night. It was awesome. For about an hour I was the culinary champion of my kitchen.

The feastmaster, if you will.

Armed with a recipe I found online and an indomitable will to perfect it at all costs, I summoned all the culinary courage I could muster and battled my way to an epic feast of Pasta with Alfredo Sauce.

Oh, small a task as it might seem to the untrained warrior, it was no little feat. Here’s how it went down…

In my leather pouch of ingredients, I found myself with:

1 stick of butter (unsalted)
1 cup of shredded parmesan and romano cheese (both in one pack)
Some milk, alas, I know not the quantity, but it was probably somewhere around a cup
1 heaping tablespoon of cream cheese
A dash of garlic powder
A dash of oregano
A dash of salt
A dash of black pepper
A dash of italian seasoning (which was probably redundant, but it was fun dashing)

Pasta (’twas a wide egg noodle variety)
Broccoli
Olive Oil

1) Prepare noodles normally (I used half a large bag)

2) Over low heat melt butter. Add cheese, milk, cream cheese, stirring occasionally You can add a little more milk depending on the consistency you like. More cream cheese makes it a bit creamier. You might even dare to substitute heavy cream for milk for a very creamy sauce.

3) Season sauce with all your dashes.

4) In a pan, sautee broccoli in olive oil. Just enough to get them a bit softer. (Plus, olive oil is delicious!) You might also cook up some chicken to your liking if you so choose, but for this battle I had none at my disposal, so it was broccoli that I conjured up to win this conflict.

5) Drain noodles. Toss noodles in sauce (leaving just a little to top off each serving).

6) Add Broccoli. Top with excess sauce. Sprinkle a dash of parmesan/romano cheese over the serving.

Enjoy. Depending on how thick your sauce is, you might be able to stretch this out into 4 servings. My lovely wife and I chose to eat a “serving” as our entire meal, so each serving was a nice sized-bowl size….leaving about one serving for leftovers.

Also, the recipe I found was a little skimpier on some of the ingredients, so it looked to be a bit of a bland recipe, so I added the cream cheese and a few spices to give it a little more flavor.

Was it a success? Ask my wife. She loves Alfredo and she said it was the best she’d ever had. Need I say more?

There ya have it…How I conquered the kitchen yet once more!

Thanks to those of you who have stopped by or added the rad to your reader. Here’s a shout out to the top 5 referrers in November.

The Worship Community dot com
Ragamuffin Soul
Billy Chia
Chris from Canada, eh?
Worship City

Thanks a bunch.

This will be the first time I do something like this on my blog, but I figured I’d give it a whirl for fun. I use google reader and love the fact that I can grab all my blogs in one place. So, I thought I’d pass along some of my favorite posts from blogs I subscribe to.

Happy “feeding”

1. Fred McKinnon‘s niece, Madeline, is a great singer/songwriter that deserves a listen.
2. Billy Chia has a nice 5 part series going on that every worship leader should check out.
3. Worship Confessional from houseofjoy.info (oh wait, that’s my blog isn’t it?)
4. Online Brainstorming tool via Chris From Canada.
5. Who wants Freebies? Get yours every day from Collide Magazine.

So, last weekend I decided to step up and be a real man. Lately, my wife has been really stressed out with finishing up this semester in grad school so the added responsibility for planning meals, grocery shopping, and cooking meals was really becoming a burden for her.

So, I saw the light and decided to show that kitchen who’s boss! My wife really appreciates it and I enjoy cooking so it’s working out. Now, this isn’t to say I believe a wife’s role is to do all that I mentioned before. I think whatever works out naturally between a couple is the route you should take.

And, as a husband I’d be a total idiot not to be sensitive to her needs.

Anyways, my first conquest this week was a simple American Goulash. Kind of a simple tomato based pasta with ground beef. Pretty easy and tasty at the same time. I didn’t have a recipe so I just kinda winged it this time. Turned out really good.

I remember growing up my mom would make this on “quick” dinner days. Those days when we needed to have a quick meal and head off to worship practice or a mid-week service.

So armed with only the memory and some basic ingredients I set out to tame this beastly dish.

Here’s how it played out if ya want to try it for yourself:

Ground Beef (I used 1.5 lbs, you could use more or less)
Onions (I used frozen chopped onions)
Elbow Macaroni (1 box, I think it was 1 lb)
Diced Tomatoes (1 regular sized can, might use more next time)
Tomato Ketchup (didn’t measure out how much to use but a few good squirts from the bottle will do)
Chili Powder (use as much as you like)
Salt
Black Pepper
Other Spices (Garlic Powder, Paprika – use whatever you like)

Boil macaroni. Drain in colander.
Brown the beef (cook it on medium heat until all red is gone). Add onions (* peppers, corn, etc) and chili powder while cooking. Drain.
In a large pot (low heat your pasta and beef should still be hot), combine macaroni, beef, and tomato sauce. Add ketchup. Season to taste.

Makes anywhere from 4-8 servings depending on how generous you are when serving.

Enjoy.

* The point of “Goulash” is that it’s kind of a hodge podge. You could actually add green peppers, mushrooms, corn or any other ingredients you like.

My next kitchen conquest will be a simple pasta salad, kind of a creamy italian-ish dish. We’ll see how it goes.

House of Worship Worship Confessional [11-25-07]

this episode includes:

RAIN in georgia!!
set list and talkthrough
recommendations
piano tip

and special background music by ANTHONY DAVID: check him out he’s offering a FREE ALBUM download!!

Head over to the blog if you’re viewing in a reader and can’t see the vid.