Who doesn’t luuurv a great pasta? Crooked perfectly with a fresh home-made sauce and paired with a deliciously crisp wine…. we certainly do! (Well my kids usually chase theirs down with a glass of cold milk or fruit juice!) One of my all-time favourite cuisines has to be Italian… pasta, caprese salads, fresh mozzarella, bruschetta with olive tapenade…. Oh dear God…. take me back to ITALY!!!  Both trips we made to this pasta perfect country had us on a mission to see how much pasta we could eat and to see who really made the best spaghetti carbonara.

And what makes their pasta so damn good? Good enough for people all over the world to flock to their shores to experience it first-hand? That my darlings would be the quality of their pasta and the fact that most restaurants make it from scratch! I guess I really should have opened with the question… Is their anything more delicious than a fresh home-made pasta? Because simply put my dear friends, there’s not much that can top it in my books. 🙂

OUT FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE PHILIPS PASTA MAKER

Putting our new Philips pasta maker to the test has been so much fun. It’s really opened my eyes to the possibilities of what we can create fresh in our very own kitchen. I’ve started off with pretty basic recipes, both times using the spaghetti disc, but this clever little machine can make all types of pasta – penne, linguine and even lasagna sheets! It also allows you to mix your own types of flours and even make things like carrot and beetroot pasta!! I cannot wait to try a wholewheat version with semolina flour mixed with it.

Now for the sake of full transparency I’m going to share my blonde moment I had while becoming acquainted with my new little friend. Without reading the manual, I made the assumption that I needed to make my own dough and that the machine would simply be used to roll out the pasta. It didn’t take me long to realise that the machine does in fact do everything for you and you literally throw everything in the mixer only to have the machine churn out fresh pasta within three minutes! Yup, three minutes my friends! That will serve me right for not reading the straight-forward instructions. 🙂

https://www.facebook.com/PhilipsHomeSA/videos/257341281711573/

There really are two simple steps to this exercise: 

1. Pour your measured flour into the machine, close and press play
2. Slowly add your liquid (milk and egg)

And that is IT!! DONE! Within a few minutes the excursion setting kicks in and before you know it you have a pile of delicious fresh pasta ready to throw in the pot.

*Feature image courtesy of  Williams Soma California.

IS IT EASY TO CLEAN? 

I’ve had a lot of people ask me if it’s easy to clean and to be honest it was one thing I was a little worried about myself. But the good news is that it’s really so easy. To clean you simply turn the two “screws” out the front and the whole attachment comes loose. This allows you to take out the whole plastic tray and all the separate attachments to clean easily. It comes with a special brush to clean the different pasta shaping discs and is dishwasher safe. My suggestion though would be to clean it soon after using it. Or at the very least take the attachments out and leave them to soak until you get a chance to clean them properly. If you leave it for too long (over night) the left over dough can get quite hard and makes it a little more challenging to clean with ease. (The discs need to be cleaned well too to ensure there’s no instruction when preparing you next batch of fresh pasta)

For those who want my Spaghetti Bolognese recipe you will find it on my Facebook page tomorrow but in the meantime how about you get cracking on the competition!!

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO STAND IN LINE TO WIN THIS BEAUTIFUL AND INNOVATIVE PASTA MAKER FROM PHILIPS WORTH R5000, YOU WILL NEED TO FOLLOW THESE STEPS: 

1. Like and share the post on Facebook
2. Tag three friends in the comments on Facebook (More if you want to increase your chances)
3. Make sure you follow Philips Home SA and The Mom Diaries. 

Go on, get entering lovely folk! Think about all that pasta waiting to be enjoyed with a juicy glass of red wine, especially in the winter time, curled under a blanket on the couch. YUP that should just about do it. 🙂

You can buy the machine simply click here and it will take you to their store allocator page.

• All three steps need to be completed in order to qualify for the prize.
• Winner is chosen via random.org and my decision is final.
• Prize cannot be sold or redeemed for cash.
• This competition is in no way endorsed or affiliated with Facebook or Instagram.
• The Mom Diaries holds no responsibility over any losses or damages whatsoever.
• Competition closes on Thursday 4th April.

*This post was sponsored courtesy of Philips Home South Africa. All thoughts and opinions are honest and my own.

Hi I’m Leigh! Did you enjoy reading this post? I really hope so and would love you to stick around a little longer! Please feel free to browse my blog for other articles or to keep up with all the latest news and to be the first to hear about some great competitions, come and find me me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You can also email me directly at leeloobaggins@hotmail.com or simply subscribe below and never worry about missing out!