Awesome Rotini Carbonara ala DEElicious Sweets

OH MY... once again...

OH MY!

You may have gotten the sense that I started this blog as a promotional tool for eRecipeCards.com.  You are right.  But a funny thing happened on the way to shameless promotion.  I have "discovered" some amazing bloggers.  And of equal importance (at least to my wife and chief taste tester) I have "discovered" some amazing recipes.  I just love this part of my day!

I always do my best to visit each of the submitted recipes (testing links, verifying content, etc.).  But of course of near equal importance is reading over the commentary and checking out the food styling photos offered on everyone's blogs.  I am having the time of my life.  And answering my own question of, "What's for dinner?" has become easier and due to the volume of recipes I have stored in my eRecipeBOX, more difficult.  Some days, it's hard to pick.

But not today.  Today is "empty out the refrigerator day".  Jackie and I are in the midst of a small medical issue.  My Mother-in-Law is having surgery on Monday.  She lives in god's country in South Dakota.  While it is not a complicated surgery, there are veins and stints and anesthesia and potential complications (Mom-in-Law is 76 years old) that make a trip north for us necessary.  Long way around way of saying I looked over what I had in the fridge and had to figure out something to do with a couple of pounds of sausage I had thawed.

So, I plugged "sausage" into the search engine of eRecipeCards.com (Click HERE for that search engine page). and came up with this gem.

My source foe this recipe, Dee of the Deelicious Sweets blog, publishes a wonderful blog.  Dee is only a click away, but is also almost a neighbor to me.  Only the width of a state separates the Kansas City suburbs I call home and St. Louis (Dee's home).  So some day, one day a blogger meet up could happen (I'll grill, Dee can bring the sweets) and our spouses can complain because they never get hot food until after we are finished photographs (cause we didn't really cook it if we don't take pictures)).

Dee is a stay at home mom, with an unusual culinary history.  She started a home business, Deelicious Sweets.  Deelicious Sweets was so successful, Dee had to make a choice.  That choice would have taken her away from her family.  So, instead, Dee shuttered a success to focus on the challenge of raising a successful family.  Speaking entrepreneurial, we tend to think of our businesses as very personal.  Any accomplishment fills us with pride and any slight wounds as much as a punch in the gut.  Recognizing a true calling in life, no matter how difficult the choices is a real accomplishment.  You are my hero both as an entrepreneur and as a mom.  Well done!

So, her obvious cooking chops glow on her blog.  Just take a look at the photos she installed on her header.  While the name (and her history) imply sweets, Deelicious Sweets is actually a  very complete cooking blog.  Looking over her recipe index, you see sweets, but also plenty of main courses, breakfasts and breads, sauces, chicken and pork... you name it and she has a few suggestions.  I can not easily tell, but it looks like she has only just started blogging this year.  She has 75 followers (scroll down to the bottom of her pages to see that widget and join if you like), of which I am her newest and if she continues to submit recipes as good as this, I will continue to be her biggest fans!!!

Just recently, Dee submitted this recipe for her AWESOME ROTINI CARBONARA.  And, awesome it is!  I had everything I needed in my pantry (and a few extras I tossed in).  The recipe comes together fast... much faster than if you tried to make a Marinara Sauce.  With the eggy carbonara sauce in place of a tomato based sauce, the finished dish was served in less than 30 minutes!

My changes from Dee's recipe...

Well, again, I was using up stuff in the fridge and veggie basket.  While I hope to be back home in just a few days, there is no telling exactly how long we would be in South Dakota.  So, I had some wonderful sweet banana peppers.  I just cut off the stems, de-seeded them, sliced em and added at the end (I like them a little crunchy.  If you prefer, add them same time you add the garlic).

I also added a diced sweet candy onion (a Missouri treat available right now).  This I added with the sausage while I was browning.  Added a very nice extra little sweet yet oniony zing to my pasta.

I used a whole wheat pasta.

And probably the biggest difference was the amount of sausage in the recipe.  I had 2 pounds that I I did not use, was going to go bad before we returned.  So, despite Dee only having 3 links in her recipe, I used 10 (and added an extra egg to the carbonera sauce).  But then, I like sausage.  I probably would have added extra even without the excuse ;)

But, these are pretty minor changes to the original recipe.  It was indeed delicious... oh, sorry Dee... It was indeed DEElicious!  And to show you the quality of Dee's food styling, that is her photo to the right showing her original recipe.  If you click on the photo, it will take you to her original post.

But, here's my version...

1 - 24 ounce box of Whole Wheat Rotini, prepared according to the directions (slightly underdone, as the pasta will be cooked an additional 5 minutes at the end)
2 TBS olive Oil
5 cloves garlic minced
1 Sweet candy Onion diced large (pieces about the size of a quarter)
10 links of sausage, sliced thin and browned to remove grease.
6 Sweet banana Peppers, de-seeded and stems removed, sliced
1 can diced Tomatoes
1 cup Feta Cheese (Please, not the low fat... low fat feta cheese is AWFUL.  use less if you must, but use the full fat)
3 large eggs
bunch of basil sliced into slivers.

Prepare the pasta
while that is cooking, saute' the garlic and onions in the oil
add the sausage slices and brown, drain the grease
While that is browning, whisk the eggs and feta together.

When the pasta is done and the sausage is browned, drain both, combine, add the peppers
add the egg/feta and mix everything well.  Return to the stovetop, cook for an additional 5 minutes at low to medium heat.  be careful NOT to scramble the egg, just warm through

Serve witha garnish of the fresh basil

And listen to the ohhhs and ahhha

THIS WAS AMAZING!  A new favorite.  Absolutely DEELICIOUS!  Dee, I just can not thank you enough for introducing this wonderful dish to me!

And everyone else, take a jump over to "DEELICIOUS SWEETS",take a look through her blog and tell her "Hi" from me.

And for a quick look at what she blogs, click on the logo link image to the right.  You will see all the eRecipeCards that Dee has submitted to eRecipeCards.com.  You can add her recipes to your eRecipeBox (once you have a free to set up account).

See how useful the site is and how easy it is to find new favorite bloggers!

These posts continue to highlight bloggers and recipes that I have found on  "eRecipeCards.com"...