vodka cream pasta

The perfect homemade sauce; quick, delicious, and you can drink a nice cranberry and vodka while it comes together.

Makes enough for 4

ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
2 garlic cloves minced
1 small onion finely chopped
1 cup of vodka 
1 cup of chicken stock (broth is lame, don't use it)
1 28oz can of diced tomatoes (the plain kind, no added spices) 
salt & pepper
1/2 cup heavy cream or whole milk or whatever milk like thing you got 
12oz penne pasta
20ish fresh basil leaves, cut up (dry can work in a pinch, but fresh is soooo yummy)

optional
crusty bread
sweet italian sausage, cooked and drained (I only add this because Jim believe every meal needs meat)
salad, you know, to keep it all moving

-put a large saute pan on medium and melt the butter and olive oil together
-add the diced garlic and onion, cook about 5 minutes
-turn the heat to high, add the vodka and let it cook off for 3-5 minutes
-stir in the stock and tomatoes
-add salt and pepper
-while this bubbles away you can start the pasta water
-stir in the heavy cream and sausage (if you wish)
-if you want a thick sauce you can let it cook down for twenty minutes, if not stir in the basil and toss in the pasta
-enjoy with crusty bread

party food!

A few people at Oliver's party requested I post the sloppy joe recipe. You can find it right here Only difference is I used turkey and made a little bit larger batch, in case folks were hungry. If you asked me if I liked sloppy joes I would have said no, I have no idea why I even felt the need to make them, but these turned out really tasty. They are so simple and miles above any canned version.

I also had a try of vegetables and crackers with some hummus, garlic dip, and this totally yummy tomato bruschetta

Then for dessert we had this cake, in cupcake form with bright colored butter cream.