Sausage, tomato & cream pasta plus easy Italian bread

It's food for thought friday and time for another pairing of tasty recipes. Today's recipes feature a bow tie pasta dish I discovered on a great blog called The Motherload plus a delicious bundt-pan bread from my good friend Becky. I haven't yet tried the bow tie pasta dish but I am definitely going to soon. I have tried the Italian bread--and can eat half a bundt pan all by myself! Hopefully you have stronger willpower than I. Enjoy!

Bow Ties With Sausage, Tomato, & Cream
1 (12 ounce) package bow tie pasta
1 T olive oil
1 lb Sweet Italian Turkey Sausage (removed from the casing)
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (can omit/decrease if your family doesn't like spicy dishes)
1/2 c diced onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 (28 ounce) can Italian-style plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 c heavy cream (or half & half to save on calories)
1/2 tsp salt
3 T minced fresh parsley

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook pasta in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain. Heat oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat. Cook sausage. Stir in onion and garlic and cook until onion is tender. Stir in tomatoes, cream and salt. Simmer until mixture thickens, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir cooked pasta into sauce and heat through. Sprinkle with parsley.


Easy Italian Bread
4 1/2 to 5 1/4 c of all purpose flour
1/4 c sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 pkg. active dry yeast
1 c milk
1 c water
1/2 c margarine or butter
2 eggs
2 T grated Parmesan or another Italian cheese

Filling
1 c mozzarella cheese
1/2 tsp dried italian seasoning
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 c margarine or butter, softened

In large bowl combine 2 1/2 cups flour, sugar salt and yeast; blend well. In small saucepan heat milk, water and 1/2 cup margarine until very warm. Add warm liquid and eggs to flour mixture. Blend at low speed until moistened; beat 3 minutes at medium speed. By hand, stir in remaining 2 to 2 3/4 cups of flour. (I used my Kitchen Aid for this entire process.)

Generously grease bundt and sprinkle with cheese. In small bowl combine all filling ingredients; mix well. Spoon half of batter into greased pan; spoon filling mixture evenly over batter to within 1/2 inch of sides of pan. Spoon remaining batter over filling. Cover loosely with plastic wrap or cloth towel and let rise in warm place until light and doubled in size, about 30 min.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Uncover dough and bake 30 to 40 minutes or until golden brown and loaf sounds hollow when lightly tapped. Immediately remove from pan; cool on wire rack. Serve warm or cool.

NOTE: Seriously grease that pan! If you don't the loaf will break in half along the cheese line and you'll be left scraping the bottom half out and trying to align it with what's already on the cooling rack. Trust me, it's not fun. Also, you could do some really fun variations on this recipe, like add chopped pepperoni or try a different cheese like cheddar or pepper jack.

"If you ate pasta and antipasto, would you still be hungry?" ~Author Unknown

Photo by The Motherload