MY BELOVED ALFREDO SAUCE

December 5, 2024

I hope you know an incredible alfredo sauce is easy to make from scratch! People ask about this recipe a lot when I serve it so I thought I should pass it along to my readers. My pursuit as a homemaker is to always be improving in my cooking, and developing my “best of the best” recipe binder in every category. I keep experimenting with recipes and versions of dishes until I reach a 10/10. I have worked on alfredo sauce over the years, and here it is.

One thing I think is essential is lots of parmesan! The recipe for the beloved alfredo sauce is below, along with one of my favorite dinners of how to serve it – with tomatoes, lots of garlic, and spinach.

The noodle pictured is fusilli corti bucati and I got it at trader joe’s.

MY BELOVED ALFREDO SAUCE
Serves 10

4 cups grape or cherry tomatoes
1/3 cup olive oil
6 bulbs of garlic cloves, peeled
8 cups or 64 ounces of heavy cream
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
4 cups spinach
16 ounces parmesan, grated – plus extra for serving
2 pounds pasta (I used fusilli corti bucati)
Fresh or freeze dried basil
Red pepper flakes
Optional: sausage, chicken, or bacon

Heat oil in a pot over medium heat. Add tomatoes and allow to cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. They will begin bursting.

Add garlic cloves and cook for 3 minutes.

Add heavy cream, salt, and pepper. Cook over medium heat for 12-14 minutes to reduce cream, stirring frequently.

Remove from heat and stir in spinach and parmesan. The parmesan will melt and the spinach will wilt. Sausage, chicken, or bacon could be added at this time as well.

Top with red pepper flakes, basil, and additional parmesan.

MY BELOVED ALFREDO SAUCE

Author: Rachel Schultz

Ingredients

4 cups grape or cherry tomatoes
⅓ cup olive oil
6 bulbs of garlic cloves, peeled
8 cups or 64 ounces of heavy cream
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
4 cups spinach
16 ounces parmesan, grated - plus extra for serving
2 pounds pasta (I used fusilli corti bucati)
Fresh or freeze dried basil
Red pepper flakes
Optional: sausage, chicken, or bacon

Instructions

Heat oil in a pot over medium heat. Add tomatoes and allow to cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. They will begin bursting.
Add garlic cloves and cook for 3 minutes.
Add heavy cream, salt, and pepper. Cook over medium heat for 12-14 minutes to reduce cream, stirring frequently.
Remove from heat and stir in spinach and parmesan. The parmesan will melt and the spinach will wilt. Sausage, chicken, or bacon could be added at this time as well.
Top with red pepper flakes, basil, and additional parmesan.

Unsubmissiveness vs. Submissive Non-Compliance

December 1, 2024

Rachel Schultz

Virginia Ruth Fugate has a helpful exploration of “unsubmissiveness” contrasted with “submissive non-compliance.” Unsubmissiveness is sin, born of a rebellious spirit; submissive non-compliance is much more rare, not sin, and occurs with a respectful heart.

Some wives go their entire lives never needing to use submissive non-compliance. Still, the reality of this category means a wife can remain submissive when her husband tells her to sin, even if she will not comply.

Correspondingly, it also reminds us a submissive spirit is much more than mere compliance.

Daniel is an excellent example of this in his time with King Darius. Although he would not comply, he remained 1) personally close to and 2) respectful of the King.

Essential here is an understanding of the difference between obedience and submission. As Mrs. Fugate puts it, “Obedience is an action; submission is an attitude.”

She continues, “Daniel’s example of submission is a far cry from the defiant, ‘I will never allow a man to tell me what to do,’ we hear from many wives today. Such outcries usually come from women who try to justify their refusal to obey God’s command by claiming that their husbands might ask them to do something that would violate their personal rights. Such wives lie in wait, hoping their husbands will err so that their before-the-fact attitude of non-submission will be vindicated. They often fabricate ‘what ifs’ and treat the rare misses of their husbands’ authority as if they were everyday events. I believe the percentage of men who actually demand their godly wives to sin is very, very small.”

“For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands: even Sara obeyed Abraham calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.”

Some wives go their entire lives never needing to use submissive non-compliance. Still,

A Game Day Menu: Football

November 15, 2024

Rachel Schultz

I associate different menus depending on the athletic event the meal is surrounding. The one I am sharing today sways football to me – chili, apps, and some perhaps light theme-y sweets. One of Autumn’s blessings is the invigoration from playing and watching autumn sports.

Delivery pizza is really fun in the winter surrounding a basketball game. Baseball is more picnic, summer food, and salty snacks. Baseball is my favorite sport, and not just because I believe it has the best snacks and food culture. There’s more beyond this too. Off the top of my head, hockey is homemade calzones or meat hand pies. I’ll stop here, but I could go on. (Turkey legs for polo matches??)

For a special football menu, I first like to make a tablescape, which for an occasion such as this is going to be a very playful concept – a football field. It’s easy with a green table cloth and white tape or stickers for the yard markers, and is a delight to children. With sports food settings, I think part of the fun is being a little kitschy.

(Side note, are you familiar with people building “food stadiums”? A browser search may further illuminate you to this slightly shocking and entertaining world.)

If I asked my husband what’s one thing he would definitely want to have for a game day apps spread, I know he would want these homemade fresh jalapeño poppers. The key word there is they’re made with fresh jalapeños, so it’s a quite different than your typical sad frozen-jalapeño poppers. The dough can be puff pastry or crescent roll. For the spice lovers!

The other thing I know he’d say is this roasted tomato and sweet onion dip. Warm and melty cheeses, like you want in comforting sports food, but also slightly elevated from sad liquid cheese.

Definitely caprese skewers because it’s just my favorite flavor combination of an appetizer, maybe all-time. Also a vegetable board with a good dipping dressing.

For the main dish, a chili! Here’s a one pot quinoa turkey chili and I also deeply love ina’s chicken chili. (Ina’s is lighter feeling. Ignore that the picture isn’t very amazing, and I cut the onion measurement in half.)

And then – the chili toppings!! The toppings can sort of make the chili. Consider sliced limes, minced red onion, cilantro, grated cheddar (freshly grated makes a difference for the better), sliced radishes, avocado, crumbled bacon, ONION RINGS (I especially love those with ina’s chili above), corn bread, green onion, sliced or diced jalapeños, halved cherry tomatoes, and I guess sour cream, which I don’t like but others do!

I’ll throw in some football shaped brownies or these oreo cheesecake cupcakes.

And lastly, lots of fun drinks.

“Be not out of tune with nature.” Charles Spurgeon