Skip to main content

Freshen Up Spaghetti


There are just days when not one single new recipe sounds tempting, days when all table counterparts are too tired to cook, too tired to eat, and too tired to try new foods, days when comfort foods are needed.  What is this tables' ultimate comfort food: spaghetti.  Plain white noodles with garlic and herb jar sauce.  Having fresh veggies in the fridge and not wanting to make a salad, Fresh & Easy Veggie Spaghetti was made instead.

Recipe:
In a large pot, one small onion was diced and cooked until translucent.  To onion, one diced zucchini, half carton of sliced bella cap mushrooms, one tablespoon of minced garlic, one teaspoon of dried oregano and basil were added and allowed to simmer on low until zucchini was tender.

Scaled for Likability:
Normally, if vegetables are going to be added to jar spaghetti sauce it is spinach, mushrooms, and sometimes a small jar of black olives.  Never zucchini.  Why?  Because just as I suspected but never put to test, the vegetable cooks down into the sauce causing the sauce to be watery.  Nothing worse than watery spaghetti sauce.  To offset the extra water, next time one tablespoon of tomato paste will be added to the jar sauce while simmering and the seed portion of the zucchini will be omitted.  Otherwise, the zucchini was a nice change to spinach.
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Better Than Campbell's Old Fashion Vegetable Soup

Went to the store with the hopes of gathering fresh produce for soup. With more than 45 people in line for two packages of any meat product and the produce section containing only avocado, orange, and most randomly, strawberries, I settled upon canned soup.  Well not canned soup since that section was still void of food, too.  Instead soup made from canned goods as the canned vegetable section had been mostly restocked. Soups like this 15 Minute Vegetable Soup  are ideal in dire food situations such as current times. Modifications Made: Plain petite diced tomatoes for flavored tomatoes, frozen carrots instead of canned, green beans and corn undrained, peas omitted (gross, nasty little pods), one can tomato sauce, two low sodium chicken and two pollo de tomate bouillon cubes, six cups water.  Once onions were softened, carrots, juice of green beans and corn, sauce, bouillon cubes, water were added and allowed to simmer until carrots almost tender.  Green beans and corn tossed in, heat t
Read more

So Sad Cake Brownies

  Oh my word how does a space as small a pantry becomes so disorganized? And in such a short time, nonetheless? While reorganizing the four 2x4 pantry shelves yesterday a golden back of the box recipe was discovered. Milk Brownies. Replacing yogurt for milk or applesauce for oil, these are commonplace alternatives. Milk for water in a box brownie, this had to be tried.  Stat. Modifications Made: Per the box, 1/3 cup milk replaced 1/3 water.  Half cup of chopped walnuts were added along with two tablespoons of Hershey chocolate syrup.  Because why not. Scaled for Likability: No, Thank You The milk was fine, the extra chocolate was fine.  Walnuts could have been doubled. The problem was the brownies themselves.  I accidently made cake brownies with two eggs instead of fudge brownies with just one brownie.  So sad.  These were given to the neighbor who prefers cake brownies.  If the neighbor liked fudge brownies (they are the best kind) these would have gone to the chickens. They have no
Read more

Papas a La Mexicana (Ranchera)

It  is a crying shame that there are six hens and not a egg in sight. What am I supposed to do with homemade ranchero sauce? Thankfully with a few quick searches of the internet a recipe from my hometown newspaper was discovered: Papas Ranchera . Not once in the thirty years I lived in my hometown did I ever eat at a local food joint serving papas rancheras. No time like the present to remedy this cultural dish. Because this recipe is hidden behind a paywall (grrr...) I have included it here for you: Servings: 4-6  Ingredients: 1 pound potatoes, diced 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1/2 large onion 1 1/2 medium tomatoes 3 jalapenos 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup juice from canned tomatoes Instructions: Fry potatoes in vegetable oil until lightly browned (about 4-6 minutes).  Saute onions, tomatoes, jalapenos until soft.  Add garlic powder and salt. Add tomato juice until vegetables are covered (may need to add water).  Bring to a boil and then add potatoes.  Cover and reduc
Read more