Crazy Cooking Challenge : Spaghetti & Red Sauce

All Right!  What an interesting challenge.  Who knew that the simplest food combination would be so hard to find??  I mean...I've never tried making another Red Spaghetti Sauce before.  I usually just open up a can.

So when the assignment was given, I went looking.  I stumbled up The Recipe Diaries "Roasted Red Pepper Sauce".  Perfect.  I had all the ingredients.  I was especially intrigued by the addition of Red Wine Vinegar; I had never used that before in a sauce.

I also decided to kick it up a notch.  I wanted to make this a fun meal for my family.  While looking for a Red Sauce, I came across Center Cut Cook's "Italian Love Nests".  Perfect!

Fun !

So here's how it went down:

The sauce was delicious!  But then again, I love the combination of Roasted Red Bell Peppers & Tomatoes.  And the tiniest bit of the crushed red pepper flakes was perfect for the sauce.

It was super easy making up the cups, and I made exactly 12 cups.  I think the only thing that I did differently was add the sauce to the tops of the cups.  If you look at the above picture, I had so much sauce leftover after taking all the noodles out.  So I took my tablespoon, and scooped a spoonful onto each of them, because extra sauce doesn't hurt.

Adding the extra seasonings & cheese to combine these noodles together, was a superb idea!  My kids had the best time trying to figure out how to eat these fun cups.

And as you can see, they liked using their fingers for this meal...

Two of these babies, plus fresh French Bread & some veggies made my tummy very happy!

Roasted Red Bell Pepper Sauce

{by : The Recipe Diaries}

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbl Red Wine Vinegar
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1/4 tsp Pepper
• 2 Garlic Cloves
• 1 (14.5 oz) Can of Tomatoes-undrained
• 1 (7 oz) Bottle of Roasted Red Bell Peppers-undrained {I drained mine because they seemed to be packed in oil}
• 1/8 tsp Crushed Red Pepper

Directions:

1. Put all the ingredients in a food processor, and blend until smooth.

Italian Love Nests

{by : Center Cut Cooks}

Ingredients :

• 8 ounces of Angel hair pasta {I used regular Spaghetti Noodles}
• 8 ounces of meat-cooked {I didn't add any to mine}
• 1 Cup of Parmesan Cheese
• 2 Eggs
• 2 Cups of Sauce {The sauce that I made up above was the perfect amount}
• 1 tsp Oregano
• 1 tsp Basil
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1/2 tsp Pepper
• 1 tsp Hot Sauce (Optional) {I didn't add}
• 1 tsp Crushed Red Pepper Flake (Optional) {I didn't add}

Directions:

1. Cook your pasta according to the package.
2. Preheat you oven to 350 degrees & lightly grease 12 muffin tins.
3. In a bowl, combine the following ingredients: Parmesan Cheese, Eggs, Oregano, Basil, Salt, Pepper (and the optional ingredients).
4. In a sauce pan, add the cooked noodles, meat, and sauce.  Heat for a couple of minutes.  Take off the heat & stir in the Parmesan Cheese mixture.
5. Using tongs, portion out the noodles into the muffin tin.
6. Add any extra sauce to the tops of your cups.
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the tops & sides start to brown.
8. Allow the cups to cool for 5 minutes.
9. Using a knife, slide around the entire cup to pop out.
10. Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by!

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