Fettuccine Alfredo with Homemade Pasta
Laurie asked me to post a the recipe for the Fettuccine Alfredo I made for dinner the other night. This all started when I had so much spinach growing in the garden and didn’t know what to do with it all that I decided it was time to try my hand at making spinach pasta. My mother makes a pasta salad that incorporates a spinach rotini, and it is delicious. Not having a pasta maker I decided that fettuccine alfredo would be an acceptible alternative. Two weeks ago Victoria helped me with our first attempt.
Having a hand in making the pasta, cooking the pasta, and making the alfredo sauce (mainly testing the cheese before dumping it into the pan) helps a child enjoy the dish so much more. During dinner I asked her if she wanted pie for dessert and she said ‘no, I want more pasta for dessert.’
Here is a photo of our first attempt.
On Wednesday I had another crop of spinach ready to pick, so the following night I made more spinach pasta using a recipe from a cookbook I have. I cooked the pasta immediately and made the alfredo sauce. It was a big hit. The kids like green pasta with tons of cheese, and Laurie, amidst all the protests, decided it really was pretty good.
Spinach Pasta:
Ingredients:
2 3/4 C. All Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp. Salt
2 Beaten Eggs
1/4 C. Water
1/4 C. Cooked Spinach
1 tsp. Olive Oil
Directions:
Mix 2 cups flour and salt in a small bowl. Place eggs, water, spinach and oil in a chopper or blender. Chop until spinach pieces are less than 1/8 inch in size. Add egg mixture to flour mixture.
Sprinkle a clean kneading surface with the remaining 3/4 cup of flour. Knead dough until smooth and elastic (8-10 minutes). Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.
Divide dough into 4 equal portions. On lightly floured surface, roll each portion into 12-inch squares (about 1/16 inch thick). If using a pasta machine, pass each portion through the machine according to the manufacturers directions until dough is 1/16 inch thick. Let stand, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Cut as desired. Cook Immediately.
To store cut pasta, hang it from a pasta-drying rack or clothes hanger, or spread it on a wire cooling rack. Let pasta dry overnight or until completely dry. Place in an airtight container and chill for up to 3 days. Or dry pasta for at least 1 hour and place in a freezer bag or freezer container and freeze for up to 8 months.
Notes:
Makes about 20 oz. of pasta.
This along with the other pasta recipe, and the recipe for fettuccine alfredo can be found in the recipes section. (The link is on the right).
Foxtrot
National Do Not Call List
Uh, okay. So we have been getting a bunch of telemarketing calls lately, so I went to the National Do Not Call Registry website to confirm that we are signed up. This was the response email.
Your phone number with the last four digits 3341 was most recently registered in the National Do Not Call Registry on April 21, 2009. Most telemarketers will be required to stop calling you 31 days from your registration date.
Visit https://www.donotcall.gov to do any of these things:
— to renew your registration
— to file a complaintPrint this email and keep it for your records.
***********************************************
***********************************************
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Please do not reply to this message as it is from an unattended mailbox. Any replies to this email will not be responded to or forwarded. This service is used for outgoing emails only and cannot respond to inquiries.
Notice the date discrepancy? It is April 20, 2009, approximatly 9:45 am. And the email says what? Tomorrow? Does the government have a top secret time machine? Or do they just not know how to tell time?
Solar Panels
We’ve had solar panels on our roof for about 6 months now, and they’ve been operating for about 3 months. I’ve had quite a few questions about them and will attempt to answer some of these questions here.
The most common question has been “How are they working out?” I assume people are wondering whether we are recouping the money we spent on them. Well… since we are leasing the panels for 15 years we pay about $40 per month with no upfront cost. Our February bill was the first full bill with the panels turned on. I did the math and we would have spent $21 dollars more on our power bill without the panels. So we spent $19 to help save the environment. Our March bill would have been $27 more so we spent $13. At this rate we will at least break even. With the electricity price increasing in May and the day length increasing as well we may even make a little money.
One of the benefits of the lease is that the monitoring is provided free of charge (I’d have to pay for monitoring if I purchased the panels outright). Monitoring the panels refers to the inverter sending production information to Solar City. They in turn publish my production information on a website that they monitor in case the panels start to fail, and allows me to see how much electricity has been produced on my roof. Anyone can see this website: Link.
It seems that many people are skeptical of it being a wise financial investment to put solar panels on their roof. Rumors and heresay permeate the atmosphere when it comes to new technology. I can’t say for sure, I haven’t had them for an entire year, but even if all we do is break even, we’re helping the environment with no out of pocket expense. We are also hedging our power bill against further rate increases from SRP; rate increases that have become an annual occurance lately.
Small Project
Last August while Laurie and the kids were staying cool at more northerly latitudes I was here. I decided to remodel our office desk. When we moved in it was a door across two cabinets. Not too attractive. I bought the wood to make the new desk. I joined the planks glued them together and planed them to make each panel for the desk and then I waited for Laurie to get home and clean off the desk. She came home and still I waited. Birthday’s, Thanksgiving, Christmas, they all came and still I waited. But finally late last week she cleaned off the desk, so I could measure, alter, fit, glue, sand and finish the desk. Here are a couple photos:
Before:
Finished:
Completed with everything replaced and running.
Next project: Tackle the cords. Maybe I should invest in that wireless power technology that Tesla invented in the 1800’s that we still have yet to see applied to everyday life.
