If you didn’t already know this about me, I hate to cook. It’s annoyingly time-consuming. I don’t particularly care for food-shopping either, especially now. Have you seen food prices recently?
Unfortunately, I do like to eat. Lucky for me I don’t have a highly refined palate, so I’ve perfected a few dishes that are cheap, easy, tasty, etc.
Typical early evening at my house goes something like this:
Me: How about if I make pasta?
Husband: That’s fine. Okay. Sure.
Be advised, husband’s response is based on the following facts:
a) he not only doesn’t like to cook, he doesn’t know how
b) he likes to eat
c) he knows if he doesn’t want what I suggest, he’ll have to come up with a suggestion of his own
d) with few exceptions he will eat what’s set before him and be glad he’s got it
Here is my version of “I Made Pasta” for dinner last night:
1 lb. of ground something. Pork, chicken, turkey, beef. Personally, I like ground pork.
It’s lean and tasty, cheaper than beef and breaks up nicely.
Brown that and then throw in some chopped onions and let them cook down. You can throw in whatever you want, actually. Mushrooms. Peppers. Squash.
When it’s cooked some, dump in a jar of spaghetti sauce. Doesn’t matter what size. I use a 24-26 oz. size. But you can use a bigger jar of sauce if you’re trying to feed a lot of people. They just won’t get as much meat.
While that’s simmering, boil some pasta. I like rotini, about 3 cups dry, but you can use whatever kind you like and then you can play with how much pasta to use, again depending on how many people you want to feed. (You can always add a can of plain tomato sauce to stretch it. They’ll never know.)
Drain the pasta when it’s done. Throw it in the pot with the sauce and stir it up and let it be together for a few minutes. Throw some shredded cheese on top. Doesn’t matter what kind. You are done. Wait until the cheese melts and start dishing it up.
You can have this ready in 30-40 minutes. Frankly, it’s about as easy as buying something frozen and nuking it and it will taste better and plus you’ll know exactly what’s in it. I think you can make this for maybe $5-6, depending on where you shop and it could potentially feed 3-4 people.
I’ve had to learn to cook for two people. The husband’s not too crazy about leftovers. Usually there is some left, but it’s good warmed up. You can throw a salad together if you’re ambitious. Go ahead. Make some garlic bread if you want to show me up. Or do what I do. Dish some into two bowls and tell your husband dinner’s ready.
Visit me at www.barbmeyers.com
Watch for my ne
xt book, A Forever Kind of Guy from Samhain Publishing October 2011.
#postaweek2011
