By Debbie Arnold of Dining With Debbie
It’s the day after Thanksgiving and not many of us want to spend any more time in the kitchen since that’s probably what most of us have done all week! Perhaps you’ll spend the day shopping the Black Friday sales. Not me. But I have family members who were up and off at the crack to do just that.
Or, perhaps you’ll be among the hundreds of thousands who will be traveling back home from “over the river and through the woods.” Be safe. I hope you make all of your plane connections or have clear highways.
Will you be continuing the family football game with a post-Thanksgiving bowl or heading out to watch your favorite team at the real thing? I hope your team wins.
Christmas decorating plans? For many of you, this is the day the tree goes up. I wonder, will yours be covered in precious handmade handprints and clothespin reindeer? Or will it be one of designer dreams? Whichever you choose, it will be beautiful.
For me, I’ll be spending the day sharing time with family. I won’t be decorating or traveling, and I’ll not be cooking much This pasta dish is the perfect choice for allowing me the time to create a gingerbread house with my little artist-to-be 6 year old granddaughter. Or maybe we’ll make a handmade Christmas surprise for her parents. Or cookies. Those are always a favored option.
For Perfect Boy, my 8 year old all boy grandson, there has to be a ball involved. There could be Legos. I expect to find NYC replicated in Legos one of these days. How does he do that so easily?
And while we are finding opportunities and ways to share and be thankful for our thanksliving time, we’ll be sharing some of the corniest jokes ever. It’s always a challenge to find one they haven’t yet heard or told. We sometimes get a serious case of the giggles just trying to one-up one another. I am blessed.
Need a little laugh today? Here are some both of the Perfects shared with me today.
Blessings on you and yours. (If you need any more jokes, we’ve got ‘em!) Now go enjoy your day then make this easy pasta. You’ll be glad you did.
1. What do hippies put on their Thanksgiving potatoes?
A. Groovy
2. Why was the quarterback crying during the game?
A. Because he was playing footBAWL.rom
3.. Why don’t you eat fish on Thanksgiving?
A. Because Thanksgiving never falls on a FRYday!
4 Rich people eat what on Thanksgiving?2
A. Eighteen Karats
5. Why IS Plymouth Rock so brave?
A. Because it’s a little boulder
6. On which holiday do you play a lot of jokes on people?
A. PRANKSgiving
7. How much did the Mayflower weigh?
A. A PuriTON
8. What is big and green and goes “gobble-gobble?”
A. A Turkeysaurus Rex, of course!
9. What do monsters have on their Thanksgiving tables?
A. Knives, forks and goons!
10. What do policemen eat on Thanksgiving?
A. Corn on the cop!
Are you laughing yet?
- 8 - 10 ounces pasta (rotini, cavatappi, farfalle)
- 1/4 cup oil-packed dried tomatoes, chopped
- 1 1/2 cups chopped onions
- 10 ounces Italian sausage (preferably hot)*
- 4 roasted garlic cloves
- 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning, crushed
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional
- 14 ounces low-sodium chicken broth
- 10 ounces coarsely shredded fresh kale
- 1 15-ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed, set aside
- 1/4 cup sliced black olives
- freshly shaved Parmesan
- salt and pepper to taste
- Bring a large pan of salted water to boil.. Follow package directions for cooking the pasta. Drain and set aside. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water.
- While the pasta is cooking, crumble and partially cook the Italian sausage in a large skillet. When the meat is mostly done, drain it in a sieve and rinse with warm water. Return it to the skillet.
- Add the tomatoes and onions to the sausage and cook until the onions are soft; add in the roasted garlic and Italian seasoning. Cook 10 minutes, stirring well to incorporate.
- Add the kale to the sausage mixture and pour the broth over. Cover and simmer for approximately 5 minutes. Stir in the beans and black olives. Stir in the cooked pasta. Add pasta water as needed to create a little sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve immediately sprinkled with some of the shaved Parmesan.
- *Turkey sausage may be substituted.
Debbie is in her second year of retirement from a 30-plus career in education primarily as a PreAp and Regular English teacher at the middle school level. While she enjoyed teaching and interacting with students and staff, she is thoroughly enjoying this time in her life. She has been married to her husband for almost 44 years, and they have one child, a daughter who lives in Fayetteville with her husband and her two perfect grandchildren who are 8 and 6. Debbie and her husband spend lots of our time traveling back and forth to NWA in order to spend as much time with them as they can and the Perfect Ones will allow.