Blogmas #9: Meatless Monday…Italian Spicy Sausage Pasta

Hey my friends!

Now that the holidays are upon us, that means spending lots of time with family and friends. That also means family style meals…

I don’t know about you, but when I think about a hearty meal, I think about Italian food. Italian food has to be my favorite type of food. And with all the plant based meat alternatives, I don’t have to give up some of my favorite dishes.

One dish I love to make is Italian spicy sausage pasta. I think it’s not only a hearty dish, but festive due to the colors in the meal. And bonus, it’s so easy to make.

Let’s begin…

The ingredients you will need to make this meal are:

  • 1 box Tomato penne pasta (I love Barilla pasta)
  • 8 oz. Tomato basil pasta sauce ( if you don’t have time to make your own, I personally love the Ragu Simply pasta sauce because they don’t add the extra ingredients we simply don’t need)
  • 4 Plant based sausage ( I recommend the hot and spicy Beyond sausage)
  • Italian seasoning
  • Red pepper flakes
  • Extra Virgin olive oil
  • 2 cups of Baby spinach

The first thing you want to do is boil a pot of water (add a teaspoon of the olive oil, italian seasoning and red pepper flakes to the water). You always want to add the seasonings to the water, then bring to a boil. When you do this, the pasta gets infused more with the seasoning.

In a pan, add a tablespoon of olive oil and heat the pan on medium. Cut the sausages (I like to cut them diagonally) and then add to pan. Cook on each side for about 5 minutes. Stir the pasta sauce into the pan. Add some more red pepper flakes if you like your food extra spicy. Drain the pasta and add a little at a time to the pan with the sausage and pasta sauce. Put the temperature on low to simmer because you now want to add in the spinach.

Mix spinach into the pasta and sausage. You don’t want the spinach to get too wilted, so turn the stove off once you’re done mixing.

Now all you have to do is enjoy 😋

Blogmas #7: My Birthday Message 🎁

As l start a new chapter of my life, I enter it with gratitude. I think about those that unfortunately do not get the opportunity to continue growing their story.

So my message to you all is to celebrate your birthday…celebrate growing older. Growing older means you’re given the opportunity of life.

So anyone celebrating a birthday today, I want to wish you a very Happy Birthday ⚘

Blogmas #6: Top 5 Gifts for Men on a Budget

Hey my friends!

Have you started your Christmas shopping? There’s less than 19 days til the big day. I know as each holiday goes by, it can get more difficult to buy that perfect gift, especially for men.

Let’s be real, there aren’t really many gift options when it comes to finding a gift for that man in your life. I mean how many sweaters can one man wear? And how many tools can we possibly purchase?

I’ve come up with my top 5 gifts for men that are affordable.

Fragrance Sampler

The sampler I chose is available at Macy’s and cost $35. The great thing about samplers is that he can give each cologne a test run. He can then choose the cologne he loves best. Now you can purchase the full size for his birthday or father’s day 😉.

Backpack with USB charger

Now I don’t know about you, but all the men in my life loves there gadgets and always need to charge something. This backpack is available on Amazon and it’s less than $25.

Grooming kit

I think this is a necessary gift. Just as we women love to pamper ourselves, so do men and they deserve it. This kit I chose is available at Target and is less than $20.

Amazon Fire TV Stick

What man doesn’t love to just chill and watch tv? What’s better than to get them the fire stick so they can stream some of their favorite shows?

Jewelry

Now you know I could not create a gift guide without some N A Waterman jewelry…

A great gift you can get that man in your life is a genuine stone bracelet from N A Waterman “Eye Catching Jewelry”. I bet some of you didn’t know we sold men jewelry. Well we do and the bracelets are all less than $30.

Now that you have a few ideas, happy shopping 💋