Pastapalooza!

As I was drifting off to sleep last night I thought to myself, "Is there any reason on earth that Callie and I shouldn't figure out how to make homemade pasta tomorrow?"  This is totally normal, right?!

Anyhow, I lay there thinking that if those kids on Master Chef Junior can do it, so can Callie and I.  Well, one thing led to another, and before morning I had hatched a plan for PASTAPALOOZA!!

I figured, if we were going to learn how to to make pasta, we might as well learn to make the pasta that will be served in heaven... gnocchi!   With the gnocchi and the regular pasta we decided make pesto and creamy parmesan alfredo sauces.  Hello YUM!

After an internet search (Dear Internet, what on earth would I do without you, my beloved?!), and a grocery run we were ready to get cooking.

Whole potatoes boiling, pine nuts roasting, and fresh basil washed and dried.

 Sadly, I don't have any other pictures of the pesto or alfredo sauce making procedures.  We've made them before.  The pasta was today's challenge, so that's why we focused on that.

The potatoes had to be boiled whole and then peeled when hot.

Callie beat the egg while I started to grate the potatoes.

Callie drizzled the egg over the shredded potato and then we began to gently fold the flour in.

After our beautiful dough came together, we let it rest a bit, and then began to form our pillows of yumminess sent from heaven.

I cut the dough and Callie formed them in beautiful ridged C's.

Sweet mercy, them's lookin' deee-licious!!!

The finished product tossed in a bit of pesto.
Not too bad for our first attempt at a difficult pasta!  They tasted yummy but they didn't hold their shape too well.

Next we got to work on making some regular 'ole pasta.

Dough ball resting.

If you ever find yourself needing someone to roll something out, please call my Callie.
That girl is a master with the rolling pin!
She got this dough perfectly thin and even!

Then I started cutting thin strips.

The finished product.

Our pastapalooza!
Gnocchi with pesto sauce and fettuccine alfredo.

Our Italian feast was soooo good!  I'd say The Olive Garden don't have anything on my Callie and me... except that amazing salad... and those breadsticks!  Oh mercy, now I'm drooling again!