Spaghetti con Salsiccia (Spaghetti with Sausage)

My cooking efforts lately had run into a string of lackluster results. The asparagus risotto was too salty and kind of bland at the same time. The chicken and garlic stew was easy but a little too tender (probably cooked it too long). My corn muffins came out tasteless and dry. The potato croquettes were a flop. I couldn't get the mashed potato mixture to hold its shape no matter how much flour I added. And then when I tried to just bake the whole thing to try to reduce some of the moisture, I forgot about it and came back to find a charred and blackened lump. So sad.

So Thursday night, I was looking for something to redeem cooking at home in my eyes. If I'm going to put the time and effort into puttering around the kitchen, I want to be be able to eat the final products with self-satisfied contentment.

And I scored big with this dish. I even threw it together all by myself. It was simple to make. I loved how it tasted. Compliments came from both roommates. This was what I wanted. I could easily see this being served up in a good Italian restaurant.

For dessert, I had planned these carrot cupcakes that were so good they ended up being appetizers since we ate those first.

This is an easy recipe that's ready in just 30 minutes. And to keep the good stuff coming? The Red Sox won to keep their playoff hopes going. Yay!

( Click to see recipe and bigger pictures )

Carrot Cupcakes

Want an easy recipe that produces a moist, just sweet enough cupcake? One that sneaks in 3 cups of carrots so you can even try to tell yourself it's healthy?

I saw this recipe for carrot cake on allrecipes.com and just had to try it. Over 750 users had rated it an average of 5 stars so that's gotta be good, right? Many, many of them had modified it and I used most of their suggestions and tried to trim the oil and sugar as best as I could. I've never baked a cake before but this seemed well within my reach. Afterwards I was quizzing my boyfriend, Brian, on what things I could've changed.

Me: Did you taste any baking soda or baking powder? Some users complained about that so I reduced the amounts.
B: Nope...I didn't taste any of that.
Me: How about sugar? I dropped it to 1.5 cups sugar instead of 2. Was it sweet enough?
B: Yes...it was perfect.
Me: Do you think I could reduce the sugar?
B: No...it was perfect.
Me: Do you know what eggs do in cake? Do you think I could reduce it to 3 eggs instead of 4?
B: (reaching for another one) Whatever you did this time was perfect. I wouldn't change a single thing with that recipe.

( Click for recipe, nutritional info, and bigger pictures )