Inspiration #1...food!

One thing that I KNOW I'm good at and something that truly makes my heart happy is cooking! I hate the clean-up, but I do love to cook. Nothing is more satisfying than putting an awesome meal on the table watching my family or friends eat and be happy! That being said, I am going to steal this idea from my friend Ginny and let you in on some of my tastier dishes! So let's start with this:

Rigatoni with Steak Sauce (I actually saw this on Giada De Laurentis' show, but I added some touches to make it mine)

You'll need: Olive Oil
2 good quality steaks (I used sirloins as the rib-eye was pricey and really fatty!)
1 onion, 2-3 good sized carrots, and I used a large handful of crimini mushrooms (steak and shrooms rock!)
4 cloves of garlic, 1 tsp. dry oregano, 3/4 red wine (I used a Cab), 26-oz marinara sauce
1 c. beef broth, 16 oz. Rigatoni, some fresh parmesan cheese and I used some fresh italian parsley.

Get some water boiling in a large pot.
Heat some olive oil in deep pan, salt, pepper and rub crushed garlic on steaks, then cook until brown but still rare (approx. 3 min. per side). Set steak aside to cool. Add more olive oil to the pan and saute onions, carrots and lastly mushrooms until onions are translucent. Add a little salt and pepper to taste. Add garlic and oregano and saute approx. 1 min. Add the wine and simmer for another minute, then add marinara and broth. Cover and simmer about 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. In the meantime, add rigatoni to pot and boil until tender but firm, approx. 10 min. Start to trim fat off of steak and slice the steak thin and into bite-size pieces. Once rigatoni is done, toss the rigatoni, steak and any reserved juices from steak into the sauce to coat. Sprinkle with freshly grated parm and top with some fresh parsley.

This makes enough to feed an army, so be prepared for tasty leftovers! YUM!