Everyday Spaghetti

I use any kind of pasta, it doesn't have to be spaghetti, but "Everyday Spaghetti" sounds better than "Everyday Pasta", right? Here's how you make it.

Ingredients

• 1 pkg. spaghetti or pasta (I get mine from Meijer or Kroger...it doesn't matter)
• 1 can diced tomatoes (Kirkland brand)
• 1 lb. sausage (Italian, Kirkland brand)
• 1/2 Tbs. Italian Seasoning (Kirkland brand)
• 1 Tbs. salt
• Optional ingredient: 1 can tomato sauce

Directions

1.  Fill pot halfway with water (mine's probably a foot or maybe two feet deep). A couple cupfuls of water. It depends. Just guess, it won't really matter. Just enough to cook a full package of pasta/spaghetti without the pasta getting hard.
2. Add salt, cover pot with lid.
3. Get out your pan. It can be a skillet, I think. I've never tried skillet, though.
4. Put the sausage in, cut the sausage up into bite-size pieces. I just use a big serving spoon to cut it up, nothing special.
5. Turn on the heat (it doesn't matter if you turn it on before or after you put in the sausage) to 5, if you're using a stove with actual fire, not just a heated surface. If you're using a heated surface, I'm not sure if it's the same. If it is, great, if it's not, I can't help you. Sorry.
6. Brown the sausage. I like mine a little bit more browned than just turning the sausage into a gray-ish color that it always turns when it's cooked. I like it to have brown around the edges, like the brown you see on caramelized onions (mmm, love those).
7. Once the sausage is browned, add the diced tomatoes and some Italian Seasoning. Me, I don't measure, I just sprinkle it over the whole thing and wait until everything in the pan is pretty much covered with it. Not a ton, but lightly covering, like a sprinkling of snow when you want it to be a foot of snow.
   If you're going to add the tomato sauce, add it now.
8. Cover the pan and wait for the water in the deep pot to boil
9. Once the water in the deep pot is boiling, pour in the package of pasta. How to tell if the water is boiling: steam should be coming out around the lid.
10. Set the timer according to the pasta box.
11. Once the time is up, strain the pasta.
12. Put the pasta in the sausage-and-tomato mixture (yick, sounds gross).
13. Stir and

(Additional ingredient: If you like your pasta wetter and more tomato-y, add a can of tomato sauce.)

YRT - Cold Coffee

Again, the link to the cold coffee recipe is in the title. Just click on it, and it should take you to the recipe. If it doesn't, comment below and tell me. I haven't rated this recipe yet, so that's why, if you came and stopped by to do the YRT with me today, you'll notice at the right side of this blog that it will have a "Today's YRT" thing and it says what the day's YRT is. It will also have the "rating" I gave the recipe. I know, it has a rating (I haven't even tested/tasted the recipe yet!), and before I've even "tried" it (I've tried all my recipes, but I don't remember what they taste like...all the more reason for me to have a YRT every year!) but I didn't want to take the rating away because it was too much trouble. And I want a smiley face that has a tongue sticking out right here, but I can't because it looks bad: :P    See? Anyway, that's today's YRT. Probably for the whole week, because I'm quite busy.

YRT - Milky Joe's

I've enclosed the link in the title, so if you want to go to the recipe we'll be trying, click on this post's title. It'll work. I promise. Anyway, "Milky Joe's" is the recipe I'll be tasting. Another thing, some people have been dubious as to whether it should be called "Joe-apostrophe-S" or "Joe-no-apostrophe-S". It should be "Joe-apostrophe-S", because the name was made because I used Trader Joe-apostrophe-S coffee, so there you go. Just in case any of you who are reading the title are also dubious. :) Anyway,

YRT - Creamy Caramel Coffee

If I'm going to be making something with coffee in it, why not kill two birds with one stone? That's why I chose to do two YRTs instead of just one--and because then I'll be closer to accomplishing my goal of finishing up all of last year's recipes...only closer. I'm probably not going to ever finish them all! But. Whatever. So, I'll be doing the "Creamy Caramel Coffee" (link opens up into new tab). Wonder if it'll be any good. We'll see!

YRT - Quick Make-it-Yourself Coffee Ice Cream

For the second YRT recipe, I'll be making "Make-it-Yourself Coffee Ice Cream in Three Minutes or Less". I know, long title. But I shortened it for the YRT. I mean, I shortened it in this post's title. If that makes sense. I'll be making it today, so if you come back in about an hour, I should have the stars up on the original post.

Also, if you scroll down you should come to my first YRT post on the "A La Cafe" recipe. Click on the link and you'll go to that post. You'll notice that I have the stars there! Yep, I actually managed to finally "rate" my first YRT recipe! :)

White Mint Hot Chocolate

The "white mint" part is for the white mint stuff I put in it, and the "hot chocolate" stuff because I'm using chocolate milk mix to make it taste more cocoa-like and some people call cocoa "hot chocolate" so it's almost a play-on-words, emiright?

Aha, right, kay.

Obviously it's at it's best in front of the fire on a snowy day with a good book, but it sounds so cliched, I'll just give you the recipe and let the sleeping dog lie.

Serves: 1
Time: 3 min, max

Ingredients

• 2 spoonfuls TJ's inst. coffee (I know, I use it with all my coffee recipes...if you don't have TJ's, you can use Folger's. That's what I used before I tried TJ's and realized I liked it better)
• 1-2 Tbs. mint [white] chocolate  
• 1 spoonful Nesquik choc. milk
• 1 spoonful sugar

Directions

1. Put in the inst. coffee, Nesquik, and sugar
2. Put in hot, boiling water
3. Stir and 

One

 This recipe is a coffee recipe. It's the 7th coffee recipe I've posted. And I'm not even close to halfway through my coffee recipes. Trust me. It's called "one" because everything is one. Or you could call it "one coffee" because it's one coffee and everything is one and it's for one person. You just can't make it for two people. Drinking it by the fire on a snowy day is a way to make the coffee spectacular. Here's how to make it.

Ingredients

• 1 spoonful TJ's inst. coffee
• 1 spoonful Nesquik choc. milk
• 1 spoonful brown sugar
• 1 Tbs. mint white choc. (recipe coming--hopefully--soon...it's my mom's recipe, so I need to ask her for it before I can get it!)

Directions

1. Put in the inst. coffee, the choc. milk (without any milk, of course), and the brown sugar (or you can put the brown sugar in after you've poured the water). Then pour hot, boiling water over the mix. Then, put in the mint white chocolate, stir, and

P.S. You can also make a mix and bag it. For four servings, put in four of all the dry ingredients and put it in a baggie (I use Ziploc). Store it in your pantry/cabinet or counter. Just don't put it in the fridge, because that's useless. ;) Enjoy!

YRT - A La Cafè

For my first recipe for the YRT (I'm so so sorry that it's already March and I haven't done any of the YRT--I totally forgot) I'm going to do the first recipe from 2014: the "A La Cafè". If the link doesn't work, go to the side where the "recipe archives" are and you can click on the arrow next to "2014". Then go down until it says "march" and you can either click on that or you can click on the arrow next to "march" and it will have the name "Quick Drink". Click on that and it'll take you to the recipe I'll be testing. Or, you can save yourself the trouble and click on the link I gave you. That's the recipe I'll be testing.

Taco Salsa

I know, why a special salsa just for tacos and burritos? Because normal salsa isn't as good as taco salsa.Love eating this with my burrito, on a hot, summer day. It's better cold, but whatever suits you. Besides, it's your taco.

Here's how to make it.

Ingredients

• 1/3 sour cream
• 1/3 mayo (I use Hellmann's)
• 1/3 salsa (any kind)

Depending on what kind of salsa you use, the taste differs. For instance, if you use a hot, spicy salsa, you'll get a hot, spicy taco salsa. If you use a very mild, basic salsa you'll get a mild taco salsa (it's not a "basic" salsa because not everyone makes it)

Directions

1. Put ingredients in medium-sized bowl. 
2. Stir until well-blended and light pink (there will be some chunks if your salsa has chunks--that's fine. There should be chunks. If there aren't, that's fine, too)
3. Put it on your taco/burrito and

I thought this was appropriate with this recipe. Instead of using a cliched "lol" use "ILSHMSFOAIDMT" which is "I Laughed So Hard My Sombrero Fell Off And I Dropped My Taco". Poor me. My taco's a mess on the floor.