Adventures in Cooking :: Pepperoni Pasta & Garlic Cheddar Biscuits

I cleaned off my SD Card today and found some pics of a meal that we had a week or too ago.  I realized I never posted the recipe, and since it's been a few days (or longer) since I posted a recipe, I thought I'd go ahead and share this one!  This originally came out of one of Joshua's cookbooks - the DK Children's Cookbook.  Oh, if you didn't know, Joshua is my 12 year old son - my oldest - and he loves to cook! 

Anyway, we've tweeked and multiplied the original recipe (as we do almost all recipes) and here's how we make Pepperoni Pasta!  Oh, and I'll add the Garlic Cheese Biscuits Recipe too!

Pepperoni Pasta

 8-10 Servings

  

1-2 Tbsp. olive oil 

3-4 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 cup onion, diced

1/2 cup red or green peppers, diced

2 tsp. dried oregano

8 oz. sliced pepperoni, cut into fourths

1 cup beef stock

1 can tomato paste

26 oz. can of diced tomatoes

1 Tbsp. sugar

Salt & Pepper, to taste

1 lb. spaghetti noodles

Fresh basil leaves & Parmesan cheese (optional)

Saute garlic, onion, peppers, and oregano in olive oil for 3-5 minutes.  Add cut up pepperoni and cook for another 2 minutes.  Add the beef stock, tomato paste, tomatoes, and sugar.  Season to taste.  Bring to a boil and simmer for about 20 minutes.  

While the sauce is simmering, cook the spaghetti* according to package directions.  After done, drain the pasta.  In the last few minutees of simmering the sauce, stir in some torn fresh basil leaves (if you have on hand).  Serve the sauce over the hot pasta!  Top with  fresh Parmesan if you like!

This recipe is similar to spaghetti, but the flavors are fresh and new - it's a nice change of pace if you often have 'regular' spaghetti!  *We've used other shapes/types of pasta...whatever you have on hand will be good with this!

When we have this, we often serve it with Garlic Cheese Biscuits.  Here's that recipe...

Buttermilk Biscuits 
(or Garlic Cheese Biscuits)

(makes about 12 - 14 biscuits)

**The recipe is a Buttermilk Biscuits Recipe, made into Garlic Cheese Biscuits.  These are the biscuits I use for hubby's breakfast - without the garlic cheese part, of course!

2 ½ cups of self-rising flour
2 teaspoons of sugar
½ cup butter or shortening (I use shortening)
¾ - 1 cup of buttermilk or milk (if I dont' have buttermilk, I use milk + 1 Tbsp. of vinegar)

Mix sugar and flour. Cut shortening into flour with a pastry blender. Stir in buttermilk until the doughy texture is right. Roll out onto floured surface and cut into circles (for the Garlic Cheese version...see differences below).  Bake at 450° for 10-12 minutes.

For Garlic Cheddar Biscuits – Use 1 cup of milk/buttermilk.  To the dough, add in ¾ cup shredded cheddar and 2-3 cloves of minced garlic. Drop by the spoonful onto cookie sheet. After baking, place 4 Tbsp. of butter in a microwavable dish.  Add 2-3 cloves of minced garlic (or a 2 tsp. of garlic powder).  Melt and fuse the garlic with the butter.  Brush over the hot biscuits!  SO yummy... very similar to the garlic cheese biscuits at Red Lobster!!

So, that's it.  A very easy, fresh meal!  The pepperoni are the most expensive ingredient in this otherwise, very frugal, from-scratch meal!  Give it a try and let me know what you think!!

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