Pinterest recipe, Winner!

Got another great recipe off pinterest. This one was shared by KevinandAmanda.com, she made this from The Best Simple Recipes book, from America's Test Kitchens.
I bought the book, you know you can trust ATK, they try everything out first!
This was sooooo good!! Spicy Sausage Pasta...
Here is mine:

You can use any sausage you like but she raved about the turkey sausage so I gave that a go, it was really good! Quick and easy one pan meal! 30 minutes to make, serve with a salad and you have a happy meal!
I used mini bowtie pasta, I just love those little cuties!
Here is the recipe:

Spicy Sausage Pasta

1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb smoked sausage (try the turkey)
1.5 cups diced onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 (10 oz) can Ro-Tel tomatoes and green chiles, Mild (I used regular, had a nice kick) Oh, and you don't drain them!
1/2 cup heavy cream
8 oz penne pasta (I used 1 1/2 cups mini bowties)
1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper, each
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (I used jack & cheddar mix, cause I had it)
1/3 cup thinly sliced scallions

1. Add olive oil to an oven-safe skillet over medium high heat until just smoking. Add sausage and onions and cook until lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

2. Add broth, tomatoes, cream, pasta, salt and pepper and stir. Bring to a boil, cover skillet, and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until pasta is tender, about 15 minutes.

3. Remove skillet from heat and stir in 1/2 cup cheese. Top with remaining cheese and sprinkle with scallions. Broil until cheese is melted, spotty brown, and bubbly.

Guy's restaurant review

We are locals in Las Vegas and decided to try out Guy's new restaurant. It is over at the Linq, which is an outdoor mall, hang out, bars, restaurants, the High roller ferris wheel is there, fun place. Next to the Flamingo hotel. Highly recommended checking it out, we are really digging it and have gone 3 weeks in a row now on our date nights.

Back to the Guy, we were seated in the back along the windows. I ordered wine, came in a whisky/water glass, I was told no wine glasses available. Wine does not drink well in a whisky glass, no wonder it was not delicious, And for 11.00 it should taste great! My wine came with a gnat floating in it. I just removed it and continued on. Watching Survivor programs teaches you it's ok to eat a bug once in awhile. Don't throw a fit right way and ruin the experience.

 But then we noticed quite a few gnats flying around us, we kept swatting them. Then there was a bee/wasp flying around inside the window, told a waiter (not ours) he said "oh I hate those and never came back or did anything about the bee/wasp. We ate and left. Don't think we will be recommending or go back. They need to do something about the insects and the wine, if you serve bad wine at least lower the price!

The Food: We had the nachos with chorizo, good but then they killed them with feta cheese, feta is to be used sparingly as it is strong, but No, they piled it on, I think it is the only time I have ever seen my hubby not finish off a plate of nachos! We split the Bbq pulled pork sandwich and yes it was fabulous, the meat was so smokey, I loved it, but that was only one plus with a lot of negatives!

Found out later at the Tilted Kilt, I can have my wine for 5.00!! We will be trying that place next, will let you know how the food is!
Stay tuned!

Vegas Vacation!

My sister came to town last Saturday, I picked her up and we went to walmart to load up on food and drinks to have at the pool. We made Olive garden salad and dressing, gazpacho soup (yummy!) and black bean burgers the first night!

Sunday found us over at Sunset station to play bingo, I won 50.00 and got crowned Queen of bingo, I had to pick a number (B10) and if it got called I would win a 5.00 voucher for my next bingo trip, it showed up only one time. But I got to wear a tiara! What girl does not love to wear a tiara!

After that is was shopping for shorts and sandals, antique mall where I found a cool gecko for the backyard wall. Sunday night the hubby took us to our favorite mexican restaurant for dinner, Lindo Michoacan on Desert Inn and Eastern.

Monday, time for the kids to get here! We pick them up and spend the day in the pool drinking margaritas, dinner was our homemade french bread pizza! Yum!

Tuesday, we hit the outlet mall and bass pro shop, back home we hooked up with hubby and headed to The Linq to ride the high roller ferris wheel. We were all a bit nervous, but our motto got us through,  "get busy living". From there we played in the Polaroid place where they take your photos and make cool prints from them. Stopped for Ice Cream at Ghiradelli then home for one last dip in the pool in the dark.
Wednesday everyone flew home. What a fun time we had!
I wish we could have more Vegas Vacations!

The ferris wheel from the ground!
On Tuesdays locals can buy tickets for half off normally 20, Tuesdays 10.

On top of the world, 550 feet above Las Vegas!

The pods can hold 40, but we had 9 in ours and that was just fine for me!

When you are up there, the people and cars are so tiny!

Love these two! Fun!

My son and my hubby hanging out at The Linq!

Last Stop on the Cruise!

Whew, sorry, summer is my busy time and I have been enjoying the pool and the bbq!
But, I have to post our last stop for you...Helsinki, Finland!

We chose the excursion: Helsinki from land and sea. 4 hours, 99.00.
We took a bus ride to a little harbor, from there we boarded a boat and cruised along the shores. It was still rainy and cold but it was beautiful. We cruised by the Ice Breakers, these ships are given the highest regard as they keep the town alive during the winters, food and goods can be transported because these big guys keep the waterways open all winter. They are the heroes of Helsinki!

An icecrusher

 

The heroes of Helsinki.

Driving through Helsinki.

After the boat cruise, we drove all through town and enjoyed the scenery, our final stop was an outdoor market, we could have sampled food and bought goods.


The meat is actually Reindeer meat, yep, they eat Rudolph in Finland.

What a marvelous time we had, so many things we saw and experienced.

I can't wait for our next adventure! Where will we be? Where we will go?

Back to the cruise!

Stop number 3 on our Scandinavian cruise...

St. Petersburg, Russia!
Our excursion for today is: City highlights and Pushkin
Hang on to your hats, this is a 10 hour day and we got rain!! Not just rain but bone chilling cold rain. Jeff opted out and stayed on the ship, but me and Christy went all in! We took our warm hats we bought in Estonia when the weather turned cold and set out on our 10 hour tour!

Me in my woolen glory!

It goes on your head then the tails wrap around your neck and it is wool so the rain does not get in and you are so warm and toasty! I would have died a bone chilling death without this hat/scarf combo!

 

We hopped a bus with Sergey, the man loved his Russian history and he was full of it! So passionate about Peter the Great and all things Russian, and so nice, he kept track of all of us like a mother hen and when one of us got lost he went full out until he found the missing persons!

What a trooper he was!

He took us to Catherine's palace. We had to wear booties and check our coats, purses and umbrellas. It was madness and chaos, so many people, I never want to go through that again. But we survived.

Good Ol'Sergey!

Catherine!

After the palace he took us to a local restaurant, we had traditional Russian food, cabbage soup, chicken stew, cheese and bread, champagne and a shot of vodka! Oh hell no on the vodka, that was like tasting pure rubbing alcohol!! Crazy Russians!

They had singers and dancers come out, they were wonderful!

I just love a good accordion player!

 

We saw where royal people were entombed, gee, that's always fun...

Peter, he had little head syndrome

After that we walked around and drove around and saw so much stuff, it was a full day, but I was ready to get back on the cruise ship to a hot shower and glass of wine! We were soaked to the bone.

What an experience, I went to Russia. Hmmmm, I WENT TO RUSSIA!! Me, who said I would never leave my own backyard too many times to count! Never say never folks!

 

See you soon for a stop in Helsinki, Finland!