Busy Weekend

I am glad it is Monday. Now, how often does anyone say that?! The weekend was great, actually, but it was pretty busy and it will be nice to "just" do my conference calls and emails and other work at the office.

You already know about the Bob show on Friday night. I am still thinking about how great that was. Saturday Mike and I hosted his renewed annual holiday party for his leadership team. We were expecting about 35-45 people so there was a lot of preparation on Saturday. We served chicken parmesan, green beans, a meatless spinach & shells pasta, fusilli with a spicy sausage-pepper-tomato sauce and french bread. I made both pastas and lots of people asked for the spicy tomato sauce recipe. We made it up years ago as an easy meal for after skiing or cold evenings when we needed something hearty to warm up. Here's the basic recipe and you can substitute and enhance with whatever else you have on hand or like in your sauce.

Sausage Pepper Tomato Sauce Recipe
ingredients:
crushed garlic
olive oil
peppers (red, green, yellow) cut into strips (or frozen bag pre-cut)
sausage, your favorite flavor, 1 package or 2-3 medium links
tomato sauce (1-2 25 oz jars)
spices like red pepper, oregano, italian seasoning
red wine
pasta (1 pkg)

Sautee the garlic in olive oil in a large pan. Add peppers and sautee until tender. Remove from the pan and place in a separate bowl

Cut your favorite sausage into medallions, I do mine thin - about 1/4 inch. Brown these in the same pan that had the garlic & peppers. You may need to add more oil. Drain excess fat.

In a large sauce pan or stew pot, add the sausage and garlic pepper mixture along with your favorite tomato sauce - homemade or store-bought. I used Whole Foods 365 Roasted Red Pepper for Saturday night but sometimes I make my own. Add spices - crushed red pepper, oregano, whatever you like. And red wine, always the secret ingredient in sauces :)

Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for at least 30 minutes.

Serve over your favorite pasta. I like the corkscrew kind - fusilli - because it looks nice on the plate, but any kind will do.

On Sunday, Stefanie and I went to church. We hadn't been in a while and it was great for her to see her friends who are also just home from college. I love my church. It is comfortable and welcoming. Both kids attended the preschool there and we all have fond memories of the playscape area that greets you when you walk from the parking lot toward the front door. The lesson this Sunday was about about Mary. The Children's lesson was about Chrismons - the Christian symbols that decorate the Christmas trees near the altar. I have heard these lessons on this 4th Sunday of advent for many years. The Christmas pagent was that afternoon, but this year I had no children cast as angels or shepherds to watch so no real reason to go. I was reminded of the year that Duncan was one of the shepherds and had to wear a(n unused!) cloth diaper on his head because we forgot to bring a white dishtowel. Improvisation at its best! He didn't know the difference and may be surprised when he reads this! Now I am looking forward to the candlelight carolling service on Christmas eve.

In the afternoon I made a big pot of chili that we will have on Monday night with Mike's and my kids. The big highlight of the afternoon was the Redskins beating Philadelphia!

Sunday night Mike and I went to the Saxon Pub to see the Resentments. He had seen them in the past on the Sunday before Christmas and they did many Christmas songs. Last night was great, but was just their usual set. Maybe they did 2 holiday songs. They were missing Steven Bruton, but Bruce Hughes, Scrappy Judd, and John the drummer were there and Joel Guzman showed up for the second half to play his accordian.

Then Monday morning came way too fast...I need another day to recover. Oh wait, there's a convenient holiday this week and I can sleep late. Yay!