Change of Pace

I know, it's been far too long since I posted anything. But I want to give this blogging business another shot, so I'm going to try expanding it beyond yarncraft. For one thing, I recently created two recipes that I want to share.


Dear Wife and I received an ice cream maker at one of our wedding showers, and it was the birthday of one of the gifters on Sunday. He had given up sugar for lent, so he threw a dessert buffet party and requested that we bring ice cream. Specifically, he had a dream about pineapple upside-down cake ice cream, and he requested that. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a recipe, so I had to make one up! It turned out great.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake Ice Cream
(Makes slightly more than 1 quart)
Start with your favorite sweet cream base. (Mine comes from Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream and Dessert Book.) Add 3/4 cup dry yellow cake mix. Pour into ice cream maker and allow to freeze until almost done. (You can stop here for a pretty amazing cake batter ice cream!) Add approx. 10 oz. of crushed pineapple, with juices, and about 3/4 cup halved maraschino cherries. (It's a good idea to refrigerate your fruits beforehand, otherwise they will melt your freshly-frozen ice cream when you add them.) Let your ice cream maker do its thing! This is delicious and got tons of compliments.


The other recipe I came up with is for Spaghetti Burgers. I don't remember what started us thinking about it, but DW and I dreamed it up one day and I had to give it a shot! This one also turned out really well.

Spaghetti Burgers
For the patties:
6 oz. uncooked spaghetti
2 T. butter
2 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

For the fixin's:
1 lb. Italian sausage
small amount of spaghetti sauce
shredded mozzarella cheese
buns of your choice
butter
garlic powder

Cook the spaghetti according to package directions. Drain and pour into large mixing bowl. Cut the noodles into small pieces (approximately 1 inch long). Add butter and stir thoroughly. Add beaten eggs and Parmesan cheese, then stir until thoroughly mixed. Spoon noodles into fried egg rings in a non-stick skillet, pressing down with the back of your spoon to make sure the ring is well filled. Cook over medium heat until the egg sets around the edges (you can tell this is happening because the noodles will look dry instead of shiny). Flip the patty and cook for several minutes more, until golden brown.

Brown Italian sausage over medium-high heat.

Separate buns and place onto a cookie sheet. Butter each half and sprinkle liberally with garlic powder. Broil until toasted.

Place one patty on the bottom half of a bun. Top with sausage, spaghetti sauce, and mozzarella, then cap it off with the top of the bun. Enjoy!


So, that's what I've been up to recently! Ok, I've also been doing some embroidery and crochet and canning, but I'll save those for another post.