FOOD: Spaghetti and Mussels

I am never a fan of leftovers. I love eating something new for dinner every night, but that makes for a lot of leftovers for me and often they end of going uneaten and spoil (maybe I'm the one who's spoiled!). I try really hard to find a way to revamp the flavors in a leftover meal, whether it be a simple adjustment or creating something new (e.g. using leftover grilled chicken on top of a salad or a sandwich.)
Anyway, a few of my friends and I went out last night to one of my favorite breweries, Victory Brewing Company. My boyfriend went to school in the area and his classmates introduced it to him.
We went out to dinner and I got spaghetti and mussels in a spicy marinara sauce. It was delicious, but by the time the main course came out I was stuffed with beer and appetizers.  So of course there was plenty of leftovers for me to eat today!

Spaghetti in a spicy sauce and mussels.

Mussels are fairly easy to cook. You can simply bring a cup of water (or partial white wine) to a boil, add mussels, cover and steam for 5 minutes until the shells have opened. Do not eat any unopened mussels, it means the mussel is dead and could end you up in the hospital if eaten. However, I've never had to reheat mussels before, so to the internet I turned!

I read that you can reheat them however you want; microwave, saute, so as long as they don't get too hot because they get chewy.

I really wanted to saute them in some extra tomato sauce because the spaghetti was overly spicy - I couldn't even taste the spaghetti, all I tasted was cayenne. We unfortunately didn't have what I wanted. Boo....

So I had to improvise!

Mussels and cocktail sauce.

I shelled the mussels and threw them into a bowl with a few large spoonfuls of cocktail sauce and heated them in the microwave about 30 seconds on high covered. 

Shelled mussels.

In cocktail sauce.

The mussels were delicious just sitting in the cocktail sauce, but I stirred them into the pasta instead. Added a little fresh basil (from my awesome herb garden) and Parmesan cheese and it's perfect!

Before the final touches.

For dessert? Hopped Up Devil ice cream. 

Victory makes ice cream from the wort of their beers. The wort is the pulp of the malt, but before the hops and fermentation process (no alcohol). Storm King Crunch - Chocolate ice cream and chocolate malted milk balls. Triple Monkey - Banana ice cream with caramel and peanuts.  Hopped Up Devil - Vanilla ice cream with cinnamon, cayenne, and chocolate covered coffee beans. YUM!

Clockwise from top: Hopped up Devil, Storm King Crunch, Triple Monkey.