Buongiorno Sizzlers! What a spike in the weather we've had! I was NOT expecting the Arctic freeze to hit us so soon, but I'm not gonna lie.... I like it.

Bundling up and wearing one of my many.many.many.many pair of boots makes me happy. So does the promise of Holidays soon to come! Anywho, I was feeling a bit under the weather yesterday; so I decided to head to the new Whole Foods on San Felipe and Post Oak. WHAT a lovely new space. I almost spent my entire life savings in there!

I decided to whip up a couple things, and one of those was homemade Marinara sauce. I was inspired by a recent post in Bon Apetit and decided to try it out. I never used to care for red sauce until I went to Italy, but I've now become a red sauce snob. I can't help it. You try going to Italy and eating things so fresh and so utterly delightful and then try and come back and open a jar of Prego...not happening.

And so it was born: Rigatoni in Homemade Marinara with Shaved Parmesano Reggiano

What you Need:

1 box Rigatoni pasta (I was going to use fresh made pasta but got lazy and couldn't find it in the vast aisle)

1 large can whole peeled tomatoes

1 dash of oregano

1 generous whoosh of good salt. Please don't use table salt.

1 medium onion

1 piece of hard aged Parm/Reggiano for shaving

Fresh basil (not pictured)

What you DO:

In your pan/pot, use either Olive Oil or butter to sweat out your onion. let it sizzle and sautee until fragrant and clear, add your dash of Oregano to let the flavors come out and blend with the onion

Once the onion/oregano is fragrant and cooked well, add your can of tomatoes. I mashed them a bit with a fork to break the larger pieces down.

Let this simmer and stir occasionally to let thicken. Meanwhile, heat your well salted pasta water.

Once your water is at a rolling boil, add the Rigatoni, and cook until al dente. Set aside about 4 generous TB of pasta water to add to the sauce.

Here's where you can decide what to do. I transferred my Marinara into a food processor and pulsed until it was semi-smooth, and the large chunks were gone. I returned the Marinara to the pot, gave it a taste and added salt/cracked black pepper to taste.

Add your al dente Rigatoni to the Marinara pot and let them mingle and get to know one another. The pasta will continue to cook and the pasta will be infused by the sauce.

One the co-mingling has gone until you are satisfied, serve pasta with a few sprigs of fresh basil, and shave your parm on top. Voila. Perfect to take the sting out of the cold and warm your bones.

I'd really enjoy knowing who has tried one of my recipes! If you have, leave a comment and let me know! Have a lovely warm day, and I will be back with a cookie recipe to knock your woolly socks off!

Hola Sizzlers! It has been an eventful morning; it downpoured and rained cats and dogs (luckily I got to wear my Hunter Wellies to work...I work in marketing...Wellies are acceptable.) Then I rushed into the office to work on a new project only to find that the other half of the creative dept. was filming some sort of commercial/ad/something....at the row where I sit. An hour later I finally got to sit and work. RAR.

As I stared out the window waiting for my desk to be evacuated by the person wearing a straw hat and floaties (don't even ask!) I was trying to think happy thoughts. Naturally, after thinking about puppies and beaches, I thought how nice a glass of wine might taste later on this evening.

Before you do anything, click here, play this song, and read along. You're welcome.

Red Red Wiiiiiiine. (& Champers) Girl's night out at Provisions.

It's no secret I love me some red wine. My penchant for wine has followed an interesting path; starting with the magnums of Rosé and Moscato that I started with in college (gag!) and then I got real classy and only sipped Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay. Then the white wine phase died. To the day, I can only handly maybe one glass of crisp white wine with a full meal, otherwise count me out.

It's alllll about the red, amigos. Once I started, I couldn't stop. Throw in my little jaunt to Italy 2 summers ago, and it's fair to say I'm a budding connoisseur.

So, in the spirit of Thirsty Thursday, and the fact that Easter is upon us and it's a custom in the Sizzle Household to indulge in a glass or two (or maybe more, who knows) during the Easter feast, I shall be showering you with some of my favorites. Now, for my beer drinkers, I even saved a spot for you. I love beer, but we'll save that for another post! Maybe I'll even go wild and do a hard liquor post... But for now, we shall indulge in the delightful world of the red.

DISCLAIMER: I try to keep these all on a reasonable budget. It's always nice to splurge, but when you also have a taste for J.Crew and shoes....well...yeah.

I tried this wine with a dear friend who used to slang wine here in Houston, and she was spot on with this recommendation. It's sexy (because it's French) and has a rich, dark and spicy element. Click here for more in depth reviews.

Ok, fine. I'll be honest. I really was drawn to the label first, but I really do love Independent Producers. They give good wine. This Washington wine is not too sweet in the way of Merlot, and was super smooth and delightful. Click here for more info.

I'm a huge fan of Pinot Noirs and red blends, and this bottle was great for the price. It has a very full flavor, but doesn't punch you in the tastebuds. A great wine to pair with a meal instead of just on its own.

GO BUY THIS NOW BEFORE I DRINK IT ALLLLL.

Now for one of my current favorites. THIS.IS.AMAZING. I tried this wine initially at Dolce Vita over pizza and a Caprese, and was really impressed. I went to Central Meerkat a few days later and found it for an incredible price. I keep it in my house all the time now. This earthy Italian is cultivated in volcanic soil so you get some great mineral notes (which I love!) and apparently the volcanic soil lends itself to health benefits? SURE. HIGHLY RECOMMEND. More info here.

I had a glass of this a Paulie's recently and was very impressed. Dark and violety, and just lovely all over. Very well priced and very well reviewed.

This is another great Italian. VERY well priced, and very tasty. It's so good someone at Forbes decided to write about it. Read it here.

How could you not like it? It has an OWL on it!!

And now for my beer drinkers. Half of the allure of this beer was that it was illegal to sell in Texas, but in the last 6 months or so (maybe even longer) it's been making it's way in! (legally!) Central Meerkat has it and Paulie's has been selling some too. I first tasted it over fresh gulf oysters in NOLA, so the experience was just insane. It's a white beer with citrus notes and I can't get enough. Just be careful because too many of these can HURT the next day. Not that I know from experience. Just what I heard.

And there you have it my friends. The inaugural Thirsty Thursday. So finish your work, go home, and pour yourself a little something. Because TheSizzle told you so; you definitely deserve it!

Cheers, Chin Chin, Salut, Santé, 1,2,3, DRINK (like in college)