Excerpts from "Fabulicious!"

Chapter 2: Growing Up Giudice
Every morning when I wake up, I realize I’m not just me; I’m something much, much better: I’m a mom. (I usually realize this because there’s a tiny elbow in my eye socket or a little knee poking me in the ear.) All I’ve ever wanted, the most important thing in the world to me, is to have my own family. With Joe and my four girls, I’ve been blessed beyond my wildest dreams. As every parent—and really good kid—knows, family is everything.

Having four kids under the age of 9 keeps me young, fit, and constantly laughing. When I’m not running after them, I’m driving them to gymnastics, karate, birthday parties, or to see their grandparents. When I’m not singing “Ring Around the Rosie” in Italian to make Audriana dance, I’m belting out the Black Eyed Peas with Gia and Gabriella. Everyone helps everyone. The other day when we were stuck in traffic driving back from the shore, Audriana was tired and started crying. I asked Gia to play some music for her baby sister on her iPod. Three minutes later, Audriana was sleeping thanks to the Lady Gaga lullaby “Bad Romance.” I live for little moments like that.

Giudice Girls Gone Wild
If you just thought about a certain practically pornographic video series, then shame on you! This is a family cookbook! Unlike some of the other “Housewives,” I do not condone young girls stripping to bring in business to a car wash, old ladies in hot pants climbing up a pole to bring their sexy back, or videotaping yourself in any state of undress at any time. I’m old-school. I did not live with Joe until we got married. I do my own child-raising, cleaning, and of course, cooking. But my girls are dying to take over this cookbook, and I promised them at least one chapter, so here we go . . .

Gia Giudice
Hi, I’m Gia, and I’m nine years old. I like dancing, acting, modeling, and doing almost anything with my mom . . . except when she’s annoying me. Which thankfully isn’t that often. I’ve been to Italy three times and my favorite city is Milan because of all the fashion there, not because it’s part of my sister’s name. And puh-lease, stop asking me what my middle name is because I don’t have one. None of us do. It’s some weird Italian thing.

My mom said I have to tell you my favorite recipe. I have lots of them, but if I had to pick one, I guess it would be Grilled Sausage & Peppers. I like when we use red, green, and yellow bell peppers. Those are the peppers that aren’t hot, so your kids will probably like them, but I like the hot peppers, too...

Milania Giudice
My name is Milania, and I’m four years old, and I’m FABULOUS! My mom says I talk too loud, but THAT’S NOT TRUE! I love to play with my baby sister Audriana, but when I pick her up and carry her, my mom yells at me. She also gets mad when I wake her up, but Audriana doesn’t want to ALWAYS be taking a nap! She wants to play with me! I TOLD YOU!

I’m a very good cooker, and I look like my mommy—FABULOUS! My favorite thing to cook is . . . I don’t know. What is it? Gabriella, stop, it’s MY TURN! My favorite thing to cook is lasagna. My mom lets me help with the layers and I make them all pretty. Lasagna is fun to make because it’s so pretty and the cheese is good. You can put any kind of meat inside. Sometimes we use sausages that my daddy makes inside it. Sometimes we only use vegetables. But this way is THE BEST!

Teresa's Tip
It might seem like a shortcut to just use canned chopped tomatoes, but it’s not a good one. They add chemicals to the can to keep the pieces looking perfect (kind of like the fast-food burgers that never, ever decompose . . .). We don’t like unnecessary chemicals, especially when cooking for our family, and we want the pieces to melt, not just sit there and look pretty. (Come on, tomatoes—you’re not too pretty to work!)

Chapter 3: A Ph.D. in Pasta
Curvy Italian bombshell and fashion icon Sophia Loren (one of my personal heroes) supposedly said of her fabulicious figure: “Everything you see, I owe to spaghetti.” Even though she told CBS News in 2009 that it wasn’t really her quote, I’m sticking to it. I love my pasta, and my pasta loves me.

You know you love pasta, too. In fact, you love it so much, when you were a kid, you glued it to construction paper and called it “art.” And it is art. Call it what you want: spaghetti, pasta, macaroni, noodles . . . there’s something magical about the simple combination of flour and just water or eggs. Especially when you make it yourself.

Not for nothing, dried pasta at the grocery store is delicious, cheap, and ready in minutes. Making your own pasta does take a little more time and effort. But the reward—especially when you do it with your family and friends—is so, so worth it.

The other night, we had three generations making homemade cavatelli in my kitchen: my ma, me, and my daughters. We had such a good time—joking about other times we’d made it, rolling it into different shapes. The girls loved it so much Gia took pictures with her little camera. When’s the last time your kid took a picture of what you were cooking together for dinner? That—that’s magic.

Juicy Bits from Joe
Once you get a few batches of pasta under your belt, you can experiment with adding flavor right to the dough. You can cut up some fresh basil, or add some grated Parmigiano. You know that green pasta? That’s from adding about 1/3 a cup of cooked spinach, squeezed dry and chopped real good, to the dough. And if you wanna freak out your kids, you can even make black pasta. Tastes real good, especially with a cream sauce or a fish. You just get some squid ink from the fish guy and add a couple of tablespoons to the dough. Be careful though, that stuff does stain.