MONTH #4: February 18, 2008 - March 17, 2008

MoniKitchen
Angel Hair with Creamy Turkey Sausage and Wild Mushroom Sauce
ingredients:
12 oz angel hair pasta
1 T olive oil
1/2 cup chopped shallots
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 C sliced mushrooms (button, cremini, portobello or any type of wild mushroom)
1 LB sweet or hot turkey or chicken sausage!, cut into 1/2" pieces (I used smoked turkey sausage! as I couldn't find hot or sweet?)
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 C reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/2 C frozen green peas
1 1/2 C low-fat sour cream
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 T chopped fresh parsley

directions:
Cook the pasta according to the package directions, then drain.
Meanwhile heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
Add the shallots and garlic and cook, stirring, for 1-minute.
add the mushrooms and cook, stirring a few times, until they are tender and releasing juice, 3-5minutes.
Add the sausage! and brown on all sides, about 5-minutes.
Add the thyme, oregano, salt and pepper and stir until well combined and the herbs are gragrant, about 1-minute.
Add the broth and bring to a simmer.
Reduce the heat to medium-low, partially cover the pan, and simmer until the sausage! is cooked through, about 10-minutes.
Add the peas and simmer 1-minute more.
Stir in the sour cream and Parmesan and simmer 1-minute to heat through.
Remove from the heat, season with salt and pepper to taste, and stir in the parsley.
Scoop pasta into individual shallow bowls, spoon the sausage! mixture over the top and serve.

***If you're confused by the overzealous-ness in regards to the sausage, please watch the clip below...

Will You Go Out With Me?
Wildfire
To celebrate my new job, we went out to a nice dinner at Wildfire http://www.wildfirerestaurant.com/. We went all out too - made reservations, which we never do, parked valet, got an appetizer, and martinis! We had $100 in gift cards so we thought, what the heck! The total bill with tip was about $150, but hey $50 out-of-pocket for a meal that nice? Not too bad :)
Here's what we had:
**Appetizer**
Four Cheese Crusted Portobello Mushrooms, stuffed with fresh garlic spinach
**Drinks**
-Tim-
1. Wildfire Signature Martini Flight
A sampling of their signature martinis~ Cosmopolitan, Green Apple, Wild Raspberry Cosmopolitan, Stormy Night
2. A full-sized Stormy Night (Effen Black Cherry, DEKUYPER Watermelon Pucker, DEKUYPER Island Blue Pucker, sour mix
-Monica-
1. Key Lime Pie Martini (ABSOLUT Vanilla, key lime juice, sour mix, cream)
2. Wild Raspberry Cosmopolitan (STOLI Razberi, DEKUYPER Triple Sec, cranberry juice, raspberry syrup)
**Meal**
-Tim-
Blue Cheese Crusted Filet Mignon (Broiled with a Blue Cheese Crust) with redskin mashed potatoes
-Monica-
Horseradish Crusted Filet Mignon (Wrapped in bacon and topped with a horseradish crust) with redskin mashed potatoes

TO BE CONTINUED!!! Did this entry make anyone else hungry?!?!