Baked Meatball Parmegiana

BEST OF TASTY CHEAPSKATE

Comfort food season is almost over, so you better take advantage while you've got the chance. This recipe gives some serious vavoom to an otherwise fairly nothing-special-Tuesday-night meal. While still keeping it simple. Because I think we all love comfort food if, you know, your grandma makes it. But then when you have to hang out for four hours breading the meat or dicing 800 potatoes or shredding two pounds of cheese and simmer down the sauce until it's a nice balsamic glaze and then get everything onto the table at just the right moment so nothing gets cold--well then fried eggs start to sound a lot better. And while there's nothing wrong with fried eggs, how about some hearty comfort food that's a little easier to pull together.

Baked meatballs are a new and glorious thing for me in general. In the past, I've always stood by the oven, rolling meatballs around in a skillet while the fat spit everywhere and the balls got too brown on the outside while still being a bit too pink on the inside. No more. Now that baked meatballs and I have been introduced, there's no turning back. They're so much easier and neater, juicier, and more evenly cooked.

This dish builds on the beauty of baked meatballs and adds to it. All you've got to do is roll meat in to balls. It takes about 15 minutes and then you're "work" is done. You do need 45 minutes to for these to cook, so plan for that. Otherwise, a pot of pasta later, you're done.

Baked Meatball Parmigiana
adapted from Hugs and Cookies
Serves 4
prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 45 minutes
Cost: $6.50 (even with a box of pasta, this comes up to less than $2.00/serving)
beef: 3.00, bread: .05, Parm cheese: .75, eggs: .20, tomato sauce: 1.50, mozzarella: 1.00

1 lb ground beef
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
3/4 C bread crumbs (I just used one slice and put it in my little blender)
3/4 C Parmesan cheese (I used the shredded, but in this recipe the powdery stuff might work too)
2 eggs
salt to taste
36 oz. your choice tomato sauce
1-2 C mozzarella
some pasta to serve it on if you're too proud to just spoon it out of the dish and eat it

Preheat oven to 400.

Combine ground beef, garlic, bread crumbs, Parmesan, eggs, and salt. I squish it together with my hands like a boss (naturally). Then roll it into meatballs. Larger meatballs will have a slightly longer cook time than smaller ones. We made 14 or 15. [Note: That means if you really want to speed up this cook time, call in some little helpers and roll you some tiny meatballs.]

Put a tiny bit of olive oil on the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Then add your meatballs.

Cook for 15 to 20 minutes.

Then add sauce, stir around the meatballs to coat and cook for another 15 minutes or so. (Note: Around this point, you want to start boiling your pasta water, so your pasta will be ready in time.)

Then throw on the cheese and cook for another 10 minutes or so. Cut one open to check for meatballs doneness and, uh, while you're at it you better taste it to make sure it's okay and stuff.

Serve over pasta or with bread.

Meatball Soup

This is one of those recipes I made and then after everyone ate it and loved it, my husband said, "That dinner was way better than it sounded." It's a pretty common phrase in these parts because if I try anything new (and I try LOTS of new things), it is always suspect.

But this was so delicious. So so delicious.

Before summer comes upon us in all her glory you should make this divine, cheap, veggie-filled comfort food.

P.S.I should note that the above pictures were taken the day after I made this. A lot of the saucy/soupy stuff got sucked into the noodles. The day I made it, I took pictures, but they didn't come out very well (nighttime lighting and all). Nevertheless, here's a picture to show what it looks like the first day.

Meatball Soup
serve 6
prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes
Cost: $6.00
beef: 3.50, bread: .05, egg: .10, other stuff: .10, onion: .10. carrots: .20, Italian diced tomatoes: .70, tomato paste: .30, beef broth: .30 (from cubes), spinach: .35, pasta: .30

For the meatballs:

1 lb ground beef
3/4-1 C bread crumbs
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp Italian seasoning
2 Tbsp milk
1 egg (optional--once I forgot it and I actually thought these tasted even better, BUT they didn't hold together as well)

For soup:

Olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped (or blended if you've got onion haters in your midst)
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1-2 carrots, chopped
1 zucchini, diced (didn't have so skipped this and all was still well)
1 14-oz can Italian diced tomatoes
1/2 C plain, smooth tomato sauce, or 3 oz. tomato paste
5 C beef broth
2 C chopped spinach leaves
1 -1 1/2 C small pasta (such as ditalini)
salt and pepper if needed
Parmesan cheese for garnish (optional)
a bit of cream for creaminess (optional)

For meatballs:

Put everything into a bowl and smoosh it all together. Roll into balls and cook in a Dutch oven or large soup pot. Note: If you don't have bread crumbs, put a crust in a small blender and blend.

When they're ready, take them out of the pot, but leave the grease (unless there's a crazy amount; then just leave some of the grease)

For the soup:

Put onion, zucchini, and carrot into this grease (add a bit of olive oil if you need some). Cook for a few minutes until they begin to get tender. Add Italian seasoning and stire. Add either tomato sauce or tomato paste and stir for about 30 seconds. Add Italian diced tomatoes. Add beef broth. Stir everything together. Bring to boiling. Add pasta and cook for 10-15 minutes or until they're close to al dente (we used a thick pasta so this took longer than a thinner pasta would have). Add more water if necessary.

When the pasta is almost cooked, add the meatballs back in and add the chopped spinach.

Cook for 4-5 more minutes. Taste and adjust for seasonings. You might want a bit more salt or basil or Italian seasoning.

Serve alone or add some Parmesan or cream.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Pumpkin Alfredo with Gnocchi

Hello November. And happy election day. Whether you're elated about your choice for president, or entered your voting location feeling a little conflicted (like I did), I think it's time for some comfort food, don't you? Even better when that comfort food has a sneaky dose of Vitamin A folded into its creamy crevices. And you know what might make it even better. Fifteen minutes. Start to finish. Yeah yeah, you're welcome.

I like to make my own Alfredo and I'm going to tell you straight up that I favor a recipe that is a lot thinner than what most people have come to expect from their Alfredo (because it often uses thickeners to thicken it whereas I prefer to just stick with cream and cheese, if you please). That said, this is easy to thick up if that's your thing. You'll find instructions for both below.

Also, this could easily be served on regular old pasta, but at this time of year I always get a hankering for those thick doughy bites of gnocchi, so that's what I went with. I even found a pumpkin variety at Aldi. Perfect. And to top this off, mushrooms sauteed in butter. It was just the perfect fit, but if mushrooms embody everything that is childhood food angst for you, you can skip them. This is just fantastic on its own.

Pumpkin Alfredo with Gnocchi
Serves 4
Cook time: 15 minutes for everything
Cost: $5.25
gnocchi: 2.00, cream: 1.25, pumpkin: .10, butter: .40, Parmesan cheese: 1.00, mushrooms: .50

1 package gnocchi
1 2/3 C cream
3-4 Tbsp pumpkin puree
5 Tbsp butter
1 C Parmesan cheese
mushrooms, optional
salt to taste

Boil water, then cook gnocchi according to the package directions.


While the gnocchi is cooking, add butter and cream to a pot. Simmer it for several minutes. After 5-8 minutes it will reduce just a bit.

(While it's simmering, you can slice a few mushrooms, and saute them in butter with salt.)

After your cream has reduced, remove it from the heat. Whisk in the pumpkin, then add the Parmesan cheese and some generous sprinkles of salt (taste as you go to get the right amount). Whisk until it's smooth. Then drain your gnocchi and add it to this sauce.

Note: As stated, it will be a thinner sauce. If you must have it thicker, then while the butter/cream mixture is simmering, combine 1 tsp cornstarch and 2 tsp milk in a small cup. Pour that into your simmering cream, whisking as you go. It will thicken slightly. Then continue with the recipe by adding pumpkin, cheese, etc.

Top with sauteed mushrooms if desired.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Pasta Salad Bar

My kids are picky. One weird thing about some picky kids is that they might like all the parts of a meal, but then when you put it together, they won't eat it. For example, my kids just started eating tacos as tacos. Even though they like hamburger, cheese, salsa, and olives, (and corn chips of course) when I would combine these items into a taco, they would refuse to eat it. It made me super crazy. And then I gave up (yes, I'm weak). I started putting the different taco items in bowls on the table and they would eat their tacos ingredient by ingredient. Le sigh. But now they eat them normally, so yay.

A few weeks ago when I was craving pasta salad, I was bummed because I was like "No one except Kip will eat it." And then I realized: My kids like pasta, my kids like olives, some of them like pepperoni, some of them like cheese, some of them like broccoli. And I realized that a pasta bar could meet my grown up craving and their picky kid needs (or wants as it were).

The truth is if you're a parent of picky kids and you don't necessarily want the battle of the century at all your meals, it's often a good idea to break some meals down into their individual parts, especially when you introduce new foods.

Try it. It's a party.

For our pasta salad, I combined the salad with the dressing (and actually even the broccoli because I wanted mine dressing soaked), but left the other ingredients separate.

I'd love to give you a killer dressing recipe, but mine was only so so. The toppings we used were broccoli, cheddar cheese, olives, pepperoni, and sausage. I desperately wanted artichokes as well, but we were out (the horror). They were a fantastic combination of toppings that made up for the lame-ish dressing.

Taco Pasta

Dumb easy and delicious. That's what this meal is. Also, fusion. And we all know that fusion is trendy. So there you go.

I figured it would be good--I mean taco toppings mixed with pasta. But it was really really good. One of the best quick dinners we've had in a long time.

Taco Pasta
adapted from bettycrocker.com
Serves 4-6
Prep and cook time: 30 minutes
Cost: $6.30 ($1.00-1.50/serving)
pasta: .50, beef: 3.00, rotel: 1.00, onion: .05, cream cheese: .50, cheddar cheese: 1.25

8 oz pasta
1 lb ground beef
2 Tbsp taco seasoning
1 can Rotel (or if you don't like too much heat, just plain diced tomatoes)
1/2 onion, grated or diced small
1 garlic clove
4 oz cream cheese
2 C cheddar cheese

Get your water boiling. When it's boiling add the pasta. You can use any bite size variety you like.

In a skillet, add the beef. Begin browning it. While you do, chop or grate your onion. Add it to cook with your beef. Near the end of cooking time, add your onion. When the beef is browned, add the taco seasoning. I use homemade and don't need water. However, if you're using a store bought variety that calls for water, go ahead and add it (it likely has a thickener in it, so it shouldn't wind up runny). Mix all this together and if it has water, simmer it for several minutes. Add the can of Rotel(with juices). Cook for a minute. Add the cream cheese.

Now drain your pasta (it should be cooked to al dente). Add it to your beef mixture. Mix.

Then top with cheese, cover and let melt.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Pantry Alfredo Sauce

Let's be honest here. I don't truly believe that Alfredo is Alfredo without some cream--usually a lot of cream. Without that, in all honesty, it's really just a white sauce. But this is a very delicious and rich and Alfredo-esquewhite sauce, especially considering we will be using mostly items from our pantry. You can call it diet Alfredo if you want since it uses whole milk instead of actual cream, but then--and I just don't know how to say this politely--you'd kind of be an idiot because this is a whole milk-based cheese sauce with a butter roux. But, you know, whatever makes you and yourn feel good about life.

The real purpose and reason for this recipe is that sometimes you run out of cream. Or milk. Or both. And then you get a hankering for creamy pasta. Wow, life can be really hard sometimes. I mean, wait till our grandchildren hear these stories of deprivation. But I digress. The point is I wanted Alfredo and had no cream. I didn't want to run to the store. And, truly, if one of your New Year's Resolutions involves saving a little money this year, then running to the store every time you want a food is a bad idea. So here you go. Now you can have your Alfredo and eat it too.

This is a super easy recipe that involves shelf-stable foods and takes less than 10 minutes to pull together. Additionally, you get it for less than $2. Hello pasta night. (Note: Butter is often refrigerated, but does not actually need refrigeration--at least in the shortish term. While you probably don't want to leave it out for a year or anything, it'll be good on your counter for several weeks. We leave our butter on the counter all the time so it's easy to butter bread. I'm not truly sure how long it will stay good on the counter, because we go through our counter stick of butter in less than two weeks--usually less than 1 week. But I've never ever in all my 13 years of married life had counter butter go bad.)

Pantry Alfredo Sauce
serves 2-4
Prep and cook time: less than 10 minutes
Cost:$1.80
butter: .25, evaporated milk: .70, cheese: .75, other stuff: .05 (Aldi prices)

1/4 C butter
2 Tbsp flour
1 can whole evaporated milk
1/4-1/2 tsp salt
3/4 C Parmesan cheese (the real stuff, not the powdery kind)
1/4 tsp garlic powder (optional)
the juices from a can of diced tomatoes (optional, but a very very nice touch if I do say so myself)

Melt butter in a pot on medium heat. Whisk in flour. Let cook for 30-60 seconds. Add salt and garlic powder if using and whisk. Whisk in evaporated milk. Keep whisking till it's nice and smooth. Keep stir/whisking every minute or so until it thickens slightly. Now whisk in the cheese (you may want to turn the heat down or take it off the heat entirely here). Stir it for a few minutes until it melts and the entire mixture thickens.

Now I would recommend opening a can of diced tomatoes (we used tomato and basil, but any kind would work.) Pour the liquid from the can into your sauce and whisk it. This makes the sauce a pretty color and just really adds a nice little flavor. Then, I served the remaining tomatoes with my pasta and Alfredo. It was fabulous.

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Pasta with Yogurt Pea Sauce

 Okay, so I struggled with the title of this dish. I mean, if you were trying to get your kids to not eat the food you made, you'd probably be like, "Hey kids, want some pasta with mashed pea and yogurt sauce. Also I plan to throw on some pine nuts with chili oil." And then they'd run to their rooms screaming about calling CPS to report abuse and you could just eat in peace. So I admit that on some levels this title is just not the greatest, but then on the other hand you get to eat your meal in happy silence. Well, until CPS gets there of course.

Seriously, my kids did not like this. And, seriously, I did. It was simple, yet slightly sophisticated--the chili-ed pine nuts adding some heat, which was a nice foil for the creamy pasta. It was delicious, yet nutritious. It was delightfully well-rounded. Maybe that word is taboo in this vegan/paleo/gluten-free world, but I still find it refreshing to occasionally serve a dish that's got all my food groups just sitting there being grown-up and awesome together. Also, who doesn't like a meal thrown together in 30 minutes.

If the kid thing is an issue, I should tell you that if you slop a bunch of spaghetti sauce onto this to try to cover it up, that's actually pretty good--kind of a creamy tomato sauce. On the other hand, if you'd like to be even more grown up, I think that this would also be wonderful with some sun-dried tomatoes spooned on top, or maybe some roasted red peppers. And if you want to serve it aside some grilled chicken, well, more power to you.

Pasta with Yogurt Pea Sauce
adapted from Orangette
makes 6-8 servings
Prep/Cook time: 30 minutes
Cost: $9.50 (This is kind of pricey for a pasta dish, but it's still only about $1.50/plate. Also, this was cheaper for us, since my yogurt only cost me about .50 and my basil was free and I used fewer pine nuts than called for--so we spent only about maybe $6.50 or about $1.00/serving)
yogurt (ours was way cheap because I did homemade, so I'm guessing on a store bought price here): 3.00, olive oil: .70, peas: 1.30, past: 1.00, basil (again I get mine for free since I have a bunch frozen, so this is a guess): 1.00, feta: 2.00, pine nuts: .50

Notes: 
-I halved this as I so often do with dishes I'm worried my kids will hate (I love me a good leftover, but 6 days of leftovers is a little much even for me).
-Also, to cheapen this a bit, you can reduce the amount of pine nuts/olive oil or try using a cheaper nut like almond slivers (or go nut free and use sunflower seeds). And I think you could totally get away with using less cheese. I think you could also use regular plain yogurt instead of Greek yogurt, though you may want to use only 2 C since it will be runnier.

2 1/2 C whole-milk Greek yogurt
2/3 C olive oil, divided
2 cloves garlic
1 pound fresh or thawed frozen peas, divided
salt
1 pound pasta (preferably a smallish pasta)
scant 1/2 C pine nuts
1-2 tsp red pepper flakes (or a chili flake)
1 2/3 C basil leaves, torn (or a few Tbsp pesto if you've got it)
8 oz feta cheese, crumbled

Get your pasta cooking. Boil some water, add a good dose of salt, and then add your pasta and follow the cooking instructions.

As the pasta cooks, get out your food processor. In a food processor (or possibly a good blender), combine yogurt, 6 Tbsp olive oil, garlic, and 2/3 C peas. Process to a smooth green sauce. Put this into a serving bowl.

Warm the remaining oil in a small frying pan on medium or medium low heat. Add pine nuts and red pepper flakes. Cook for several minutes, stirring occasionally until the pine nuts begin to brown. Your oil may turn red, which would be pretty, but mine didn't.

Also, warm up your remaining peas.

Drain pasta and add it gradually to the yogurt sauce. You've got to add it gradually. If you add it all at once, your yogurt could separate (and then your kids really won't eat it). Add the peas, the basil, feta, and 1 tsp salt. Toss/mix gently.

Serve and spoon a spoonful of the pine nuts and chili oil onto each serving.

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Cheater Tomato Cream Sauce (still a whole food, still awesomeness)

The theme of December is going to be ease. Say it with me now: "Ease." Ah, doesn't that feel good.

Does anyone else look at Pinterest these days and think the whole world has gone insane? I mean, if I see one more list of interesting, magical, and otherwise clinically insane things that one can do with their elves, I'm going to have to die of parental magic-impairment syndrome. That, or be convicted of it in a court of law. Recently, I saw a post about someone who did something like the elf (which at least has the excuse of coming at an over-the-top-magical time of year AND supposedly inducing your children to good works by watching over their wee shoulders). Except that it was with plastic dinosaurs. And not at Christmas. The dinosaurs would do all kinds of crazy things like make messes and get into trouble--whee. It's great to be a dinosaur. This post concluded with some comment about how they (the parents) were doing it to keep their children's imaginations alive. Back in my day, imagination meant that you--the child--took your plastic dinosaurs and played games with them. Now apparently it means that your parents do random things with them in the middle of the night (which include, but are not limited to getting into bowls of goop, which the parents--presumably--will at some point in the day have to clean up--it kind of blows my mind). But I've digressed.

My point is that my kids will obviously have to live through a magic-less childhood. Not only that, but I am also going to tell you how to cheat on dinner.

Here's how you make this sauce. You take your regular spaghetti sauce. And you add a block of cream cheese. You heat it and mix it and let it melt. The end. It tastes delicious. And fancy. And it's an excellent compliment for pasta with bacon, sweet sausage, seafood, or--my favorite--mushrooms (see above). Normal sauce is great and all, but it's just too acidic to go well with quite so many flavors. This can be part of a ten-minute meal, but it doesn't taste like it. I love that in a food.

Cheater Tomato Cream Sauce
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cost: 2.50
tomato sauce: 1.50,  cream cheese: 1.00

1 can regular tomato sauce (or this delicious and easy homemade sauce)
1 8-oz block of cream cheese

Heat, mix, serve, eat.

PRINTABLE RECIPE--whatever--save yourself the paper; your elf probably made it into hundreds of tiny snowflakes anyway. He must be exhausted.

Lasagna Roll-ups: Easy, Quick Dinner

So I love lasagna. But I hardly ever make it. Why? In the summer it's hot. In the winter, it still takes a good hour to bake (and that's not including prep time). Heaven forbid you forget the oven-ready noodles and have to actually cook your noodles beforehand. And then, after all this, someone will complain that--stop the presses--your concoction contains cheese. Or meat. Or something else unholy for one of my kids. 

But this...This takes 30 minutes from start to finish. Your kitchen isn't a sauna by the end and if you want you can even do a "lasagna bar" so that everyone can personalize their servings. That way every kid gets what he/she most wants (if that's your lenient parent thing anyway). It's also a butt-kicking idea for leftover Tuesday. Got half a chicken breast, a bit of sauce, and broccoli--perfect--throw it in there. Got some cream cheese, spinach, and Parmesan--can't beat it. But then you could go with traditional fillings too. The trick is to leave your sauce for the top. So you'll want to add your cheeses and meat, roll it up, and then top it with the sauce. 

We made a leftover one with chicken and broccoli and then a spinach one using this basic recipe (minus the artichokes and I microwaved it instead of baking it). Both were good, but that spinach one--wow. It was really good. And, yes, I let the kids wrap them with whatever fillings they wanted. 

How to Make Lasagna Roll Ups:

1. Boil some water. Add your noodles and cook them until they're al dente (or however it is you like your noodles). 

2. While your noodles are cooking, prepare you other fillings. Brown meat, mix ricotta with egg and salt; or make that delicious spinach stuff. 

3. Drain the water and lay your noodles flat. I always think this is the hardest part. Those noodles are just so darned slippery. 

4. Once flat, add whatever fillings you like. 

5. Roll it up.

6. Top with sauce (if you like). You can use a tomato marinara, but you could also make an alfredo or pesto type of sauce. The sky's the limit with these and that's partly what is so fun about them.

Baked Chicken Spaghetti

It's time for another Secret Recipe Club recipe. I'm kind of excited because for the first time I got someone I know (not personally, but we look at each other's blogs). Kind of fun. I had Rebekah at Family, Food, and Fun. She likes kids, cooking, and hiking. Right up my alley. I managed to pin plenty of her recipes. The one I made for Secret Recipe club was called Chicken Spaghetti. Why did I pick it? Because I had one lonely chicken breast languishing in the freezer waiting for something in which to sing. And my family loves pasta. And even though I don't make as many casseroles (or casserole-like foods) as I could, I'm a firm believer in them. They are a great way to turn a hodgepodge of foods (even leftovers) into something awesome. And speaking of leftovers, this could really be an ideal meal for a leftover Tuesday. It does well with adaptation. You could probably throw in whatever vegetables, pasta, and cheeses you had. Then proceed with her base recipe. As I said, I love a good casserole. Rebekah's was especially appealing because you could use cream of whatever soup, but you didn't have to. And while I'm not opposed to cream of whatever soup in a pinch, I really love me a whole foods casserole.

Baked Chicken Spaghetti
adapted from Family, Food, and Fun
makes 1 9x13 pan (we halved it for and 8x8x)
Prep time: 30-40 minutes (if using leftovers, this will take 5 minutes)
Cook time: 20-25 minutes
Cost: $5.10 (or about $.63/serving)
pasta: 1.00, chicken: 1.00, spinach: .35, cheese: 2.00, white sauce: .45, chicken broth: .30

Note on pasta: Rebekah used whole wheat. I went the low road and used regular. Also, I found that we didn't have any spaghetti (whaaat??? we always have spaghetti) so I used Radiatore)

Note on vegetables: Rebekah used onion, pimentos, and green pepper. Kip doesn't like those things, so I used 2 cups of baby spinach, chopped very small instead. I'd wager a host of different veggies would work well in this.

Note on cream of whatever soup: You can use it or you can make this simple white sauce: 4 Tbsp butter mixed with 4 Tbsp flour, then add 2 C milk and boil until thick, add salt and pepper. Rebekah has a more elaborate cream of recipe on her blog; here's the link. As a note, just making your own white sauce (5 minutes) is going to save you $1-2 dollars. It's $.45 as opposed to $1.00-2.00 for the canned soup.

Note on seasonings: I kept mine to simple salt and pepper, but Rebekah added 1 tsp seasoned salt, and a bit of cayenne.

Crunched for time: Use cream of chicken soup and canned chicken in this. Then throw in a can of drained vegetables (or pre-chopped vegetables) of your choice. It's not as cheap or as healthy, but it's better than a McDonald's run.

1 (13.25 oz) package spaghetti or angel hair (or other pasta)
2 1/2 C cooked chicken, packed
2 cans cream of chicken/mushroom soup
2 C shredded cheddar cheese
1 small onion, diced (or do as I did and add several sprinkles of onion powder)
2 C baby spinach, chopped very small
1 1/2-2 C chicken broth (as needed for consistency)
salt and pepper to taste
1 C shredded cheddar cheese (for topping)

Cook pasta in pot of salted water until al dente (seriously, don't get it to gloppy state; it's going to cook some more in the oven). (Alternately, you can use leftover spaghetti--3-4 cups.) Drain.

While the pasta's cooking, cook your chicken if you need to. I just boiled mine, then shredded it.

In bowl, combine cooked chicken, cream of whatever soup (or basic white sauce), 2 C shredded cheddar, onion (or powder), and spinach.

To this add cooked pasta and chicken broth. Start with 1 C of broth and add more as needed to get it to a consistency that you like--not soupy, but not to stiff. Add seasonings.

Spread in 9x13 inch pan. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Add remaining 1 C cheese on top and return to oven until it's melted. (I put my one cup on at the beginning because I like mine to have a little color.)

PRINTABLE RECIPE

One Pot Alfredo Pasta with Vegetables

I have a thing for Alfredo. I have an even bigger thing for Alfredo with a hearty dose of chopped basil. People make Alfredo sauces differently, ranging from the purist's version of cream, Parmesan cheese, and butter to the more Americanized cream cheesy versions or the foodie ones with a dash of nutmeg or whatever else is the seasoning de jour. I like mine pretty pure and I usually make it as a sauce. But this recipe caught my eye because it is just so darn simple, so delightfully one-pot. You finish cooking your noodles in the cream, which really incorporates the cream into your dish (a trick Cook's Illustrated also suggests). It's a well-balanced, one-pot, 25-minute meal that would cost you $15 at Applebees.

It's also a great way to use up random vegetables that you have. Broccoli, cauliflower, spring peas, spinach, asparagus--whatever you've got or a combination thereof. I used spinach and the peas from my garden. In that way it was sort of a celebratory dish as well. I've never gotten enough peas from the garden to satisfy both the garden snackers (me and my girls) and actually have enough leftover to create a dish. It was very exciting. I'll be making it again tonight with the last of my peas. Here's to the exit of spring and the onslaught (which is certainly how it felt this weekend) of summer.

Easy One-Pot Pasta with Alfredo
serves 6-8
adapted from Everyday Food
Prep and cook time: 25-30 minutes
Cost: $3.35
pasta: .75, vegetables: .50-1.00, basil (I'm guessing here; I grow it myself): .50, cream: .35, Parmesan: .75

3/4 lb short pasta (something with swirly parts is nice--it catches the creaminess)
3 garlic cloves, halved
3-4 C vegetables of your choice (peas, spinach, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower--go with a cool-season vegetable and you'll likely be okay)
1/2 C fresh basil leaves (or several tablespoons of pesto)
1/3 C heavy cream
3/4 C grated Parmesan

In a pot of (preferably salted) boiling water, cook pasta and garlic 2 minutes less than the package instructions. Add vegetables and cook for 1 minutes (Note: I know I'm giving exact times here, but I didn't use exact times--essentially get your pasta almost cooked, throw the veggies in near the end so they get a quick boil--they'll cook a bit more in the cream, so this isn't all the cooking they get, but it gets them started.)

Reserve 1/2 C pasta water (um, I forgot to do that and all was still well) and drain.

Add cream and basil to the pasta in your pot and heat over medium with the pasta. If you need to add some of the reserved cooking water to thin it (I didn't need to). Cook this, stirring, for a couple of minutes. Stir in Parmesan and remaining pasta water if you need to loosen it up a bit (I didn't need to). Season with salt and pepper.

Serve warm.

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Crock Pot Spinach Lasagna

It's time for another Secret Recipe Club posting. This month I got Mostly Food and Crafts, which I was pretty happy about because I've actually pinned several things from this blog already. Also, I've wanted to try lasagna in the crock pot for a long time now, but have been afraid of serving it several hours later only to find that my lasagna has been replaced with red gloppy glop from Glop. If you know what I mean. It helped to have Danielle to mentor me through.

The lasagna was excellent and super easy. The other thing I really loved about it is that with normal lasagna you're supposed to take it out of the oven (and it still takes an hour in there) and then let it set for 15 minutes or so so that it doesn't ooze out all over the place. This wasn't necessary with this lasagna. It was a little oozy, but not much. And the noodles were perfect--not mushy at all.

A few notes:

1. One thing I always forget about lasagna is that the putting together takes longer than I expect. This is a very fast meal to put in the crock, but not a five minute one. Plan for at least 10 minutes and 15-20 if you're making your own quick sauce.
2. This is very very spinachy. Which is as a spinach lasagna should be. However, if you only sort of like spinach or you're worried that people in your posse will object to so much, reduce the spinach by half. It will still taste great and you'll please a bigger crowd. In fact, if  you're a little shy about the spinach, you could also use 10 oz of baby spinach, chopped and steamed in place of the frozen spinach. Frozen spinach comes with all the stems and everything. Again, no big deal if you're a spinach lover or veteran, but if you're not, or you're worried about people liking it, then chopped, steamed baby spinach is the way to go. You'll barely notice you're eating green leafy things.
3. Danielle recommends 3-4 hours on low. I did mine for 2 hours on high. Totally worked! Hurray. So if you don't get to this until you're kids are walking in the door from school, don't fret. It can still totally work and it is nice to be doing dinner while they do their after school chores/homework and then to relax during the normally rushed pre-dinner thing.

Crock Pot Spinach Lasagna
adapted from Mostly Food and Crafts
makes 6-8 servings
Prep time: 10-20 minutes
Cook time: 2-4 hours
Cost: $7.25
noodles: .40, ricotta: 1.00. mozzarella: 1.00, Parm: .75, spinach: 2.50, marinara: 1.60

6-7 regular lasagna noodles (not no-boil)
20 oz. spinach, thawed (if you think this will be too much for your family, see note above)
1 C ricotta cheese
3/4 C grated Parmesan cheese
3 C marinara sauce (we added some cooked ground beef to ours)
1/2 C water
1 1/2 C mozzarella cheese

If using ground beef, brown with salt and pepper or a bit of pesto (yum). Add this to your marinara sauce. Add 1/2 C water to it all.

While beef is browning, combine spinach ricotta cheese, and 1/2 C Parmesan cheese.

Ladle about 3/4 C marinara sauce into bottom of crock pot. Add 2 lasagna noodles, breaking if necessary to make them fit. Top with 3/4 C marinara sauce, 1/2 spinach mixture and 1/2 C mozzarella.

Repeat (noodles, sauce, spinach, mozzarella).

Top with final 2 noodles. Add remaining sauce and remaining Parmesan and mozzarella cheeses.

Cook in crock pot for 3-4 hours on low or 2 hours on high.

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Feta Alfredo

Cheap Eat Challenge, Part 2: Watch as our family of 6 eats on less than $10/day.

Since the technical definition of Alfredo is a sauce that uses butter, cream, and Parmesan, I'm totally cheating here in calling this dish 'Feta Alfredo' because there isn't a lick of Parmesan in it. I suppose I should have called it 'Pasta with Feta Cheese Sauce,' which doesn't sound nearly as sexy, does it? But beyond that it doesn't capture the mood of this dish, which is very much the mood of a real Alfredo dish--creamy, cheesy, finger-licking, and with the kind of sultry kick not just any cheese sauce will deliver. And if food romance isn't enough inspiration for you, how about the fact that this comes together in 30 minutes or less. 

Sadly, the idea of combining feta with cream was not my own. How could this be so, you ask? I do not know. Cream, feta, butter, pasta--it seems like I should have come forth from the womb spewing such words. (Fortunately for my mother, I did not, though maybe she would have gotten better hospital meals if I had.) Instead of my own cream-obsessed brain, the inspiration for this recipe came from a blog called Crumbs and Chaos. Thank you Crumbs and Chaos for opening my eyes and expanding my world. Let us all come to be so enlightened. Make this dish. 

Feta Alfredo

Adapted from Crumbs and Chaos, which was adapted from Lavender and Lime

Serves 4

Prep and cook time: 30 minutes

Cost: $4.00

bacon: .50, butter: .10, broccoli: .70, peas: .30, cream: .70, feta: 1.00, pasta: .60, other stuff: .10)

1/4 lb bacon

2 Tbsp butter

1 head broccoli

1 C frozen peas

3 cloves garlic

1 Tbsp fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried thyme

3/4 C heavy cream

2 oz feta, plus more for garnishing

pepper

8 oz pasta (we used bow ties)

salt to taste

Get your pasta water boiling. When it's boiling, add the pasta. 

While the water is coming to a boil, cut the broccoli into bite-sized pieces. Put this and the frozen peas in a microwave-safe bowl. Add about 2-4 Tbsp water (enough to make 1/2 inch to 1 inch in the bottom of the bowl). Cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 2-3 minutes or until broccoli is tender, stirring one time in between. The broccoli should be fork tender, but not nuked into mushy mush. Note: I love this method for cooking broccoli. It's fast, many of the nutrients are retained, and it comes out perfect, bright green, and tasty. Remove from microwave with an oven mitt because it's really really hot. Also watch for steam when you remove the plastic wrap. Drain remaining water out. (Carefully--remember the steam.)

And while your pasta is cooking and you're multi-tasking your little heart out, heat a skillet and add bacon to it. Cook until crisp. Drain on paper towels. Wipe skillet out with a wadded up paper towel (don't burn yourself). 

Add butter to skillet and melt it. Add garlic and thyme. Give them a whirl in the butter for about 30 seconds. Add cream and let it get warm. Add feta to cream (crumble it up a bit before you throw it in). Stir it gently until melted. (Note: Unless you've done a superior job crumbling, it won't all melt and there will be a few lumps of it. That's okay.) 

Add broccoli, peas, and bacon. 

Drain your pasta. (It should be al dente, not just for food snob reasons, but because it's going to cook another few minutes with the cream and you want it to absorb a little of that awesomeness.) Add cooked pasta to the sauce and toss to coat. I let mine cook in there for a few minutes, which allowed some of the cream to be sucked up by the pasta. 

Serve while hot with feta sprinkled on top. 

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Basil Alfredo

Cheap Eat Challenge, Part 2: Watch as our family of 6 eats on less than $10/day.

I love a good pesto sauce. Unfortunately, Kip does not. Oh sure, he'll eat it if it's what winds up on his plate, but he'd much rather eat his noodles with something red or cheesy. Still, I had some pesto and I was itching to use it. The good news for Kip is that I also had some cream. And that when I looked in my refrigerator at that pesto sitting next to that cream, a little idea popped into my head. It was a good idea. A very good idea. Although I'm not really sure how Jenny Craig would feel about it. Let' just not ask her, okay.

If you still feel a little guilty eating something comprised so largely of cream, know this: this recipe accepts lots of vegetables lovingly into its arms. Even vegetables that might normally not be extremely welcome in your abode. We served ours with sauteed yellow squash mixed in. Yellow squash and Kip aren't exactly BFF, but he didn't mind it one little bit mixed in with all that creamy goodness. I threw some tomatoes on mine as well. And today when we eat the leftovers I plan to whip out a chicken breast.

Basil Alfredo
Serves 4
Cook time: 10 minutes
Cost: $3.00
cream: 1.89, Parmesan: 1.00, pesto: who knows, let's say .11 to keep things easy

Note: If you don't have pesto, you can use regular basil. You'll want to chop it as finely as you can. Also, if just using basil, you'll want to add some salt to this recipe. My pesto is already salted and adds enough salt for my needs.

Note on Parmesan: You need shredded or block Parmesan. The powdery kind won't incorporate very well.

2 C cream
1 C shredded Parmesan cheese
dash black pepper
1-4 Tbsp pesto or one handful basil, chopped up as small as you can get it with a good knife

Pour cream in saucepan. Bring it to the simmering point and let it simmer for about 8 minutes. It will thicken and reduce just a bit. Whisk in Parmesan cheese until it's melted (or mostly melted). Add pepper. Add pesto. Start with 1 Tbsp and taste (try not to drink it up, eh). Different people have different tolerances for basil. I settled at about 2 or 2 1/2 Tbsp since I was serving this to Kip.

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Zucchini Orzo

Cheap Eat Challenge, Part 2: Watch as our family of 6 eats on less than $10/day.

Now you see the zucchini...

Now you don't.

Which is one of the many many wonderful things about this recipe. If there are people in your family willing to consume large amounts of vegetable with their pasta, you can leave the skin of your zucchini on and include any of a number of other delicious and colorful vegetable add-ins (tomatoes, peppers, olives, peas...). If the people in your family would rather see their fingernails ripped off than know that their pasta contains a vegetable not in sauce form, then you merely peel the skins off the zucchini and I'll be darned if they don't get completely lost in that orzo. And just in case they're not completely lost, you can slather that stuff in a nice red tomato sauce and, by gum, they will be.

But first a few words on hiding one's vegetables in unsuspecting white starchy foods. I have a friend who studied nutrition who believes very strongly that hiding vegetables instead of serving them straight up just develops unhealthy habits in children (and, cough, husbands). She believes that while they may end up eating their hidden vegetables, they will not learn to be accepting of those poor vegetables that have the misfortune of actually looking the part, and that this will inhibit their making of healthy choices throughout life. I agree with my friend wholeheartedly. I believe that sometimes vegetables must be seen instead of just heard, um--tasted, um, whatever. Kids need to get used to trying things that don't look like a cookie or taste like a cookie or have a nifty cartoon character on the box.

And yet. And yet. There are those times. I think most of you know what times I mean--those times when a hapless vegetable is simply so unloved that something must be done to get the little guy in the gate. Or times when your kid is going through a little vegetable strike (Hello Emma). Or when you don't want a big fight at dinner. Or times when you, in your perfectly clueless first few years of parenting--years in which you may or may not have allowed your oldest child to have a peanut butter sandwich or a bowl of cereal every night for dinner because the little dear just wouldn't eat anything else and you were so (hands wringing) concerned that the little guy would perish from his own perfectly darling stubbornness that you gave in every night even though every other mother who had been a mother of more than one child for more than 60 seconds counseled you not to give in--yes, you may be one of those parents who may or may not (this is not a place of judgment) have neglected to develop said healthy habits in your children and therefore must resort to measures of stealth. At least occasionally while you backtrack and try to make up for lost vegetable time and establish some better habits, conking your head on the countertop wondering why--why I ask you--you did not listen to those more experienced mothers and tell little Junior Cute Cheeks to eat up or go without.

The solution: hide some vegetables in your food, but don't forget to set a few whole on the table as well.

By the way, orzo, should you not know what it is (I'd never cooked with it before either), is a small pasta that looks like rice, or as Mark pointed out, small seeds. You will be shocked how much zucchini can be stuffed into a serving of it without it being noticeable. I went conservative the first time (the peeled zucchini picture) because I really didn't know how my audience would react, and we still each got 1/2 C. The next day I made more for my lunch (the un-peeled zucchini picture) and I put a whole medium sized zucchini in one large serving and wished I'd added more.

And if you're still not convinced how awesome this can be, it only takes 20 minutes from start to finish (and that includes zucchini grating time). Marry me, 20-minute meals.

Zucchini Orzo
adapted from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
Makes 2 main course or 4 side dish servings
Prep and cook time: 20 minutes

1/2 lb orzo pasta
1 large zucchini or about 4 C grated zucchini
1/4 grated onion or a couple dashes onion powder
2 cloves garlic minced (or a couple dashes garlic powder)
2-4 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 C Parmesan cheese or sharp cheddar (supposing you happen to run out of Parmesan on the day you're to make this, not that I ever would)
salt and pepper to taste
a few pinches chicken bouillon granules
other chopped vegetables (optional--peppers, olives, tomato, spinach, peas--all these would have been great additions)

Cook orzo according to instructions on box.

While it's cooking, heat oil in a skillet and grate your zucchini and onion if using (and any other hard vegetables such as peppers that you may be using). Add salt, pepper, and onion/garlic powders to oil and let them sit for 20 seconds. Add vegetables to oil in skillet (should sizzle, but not go nuts). Mix it around to get it all kind of oily. Turn heat to medium or just below that and allow the zucchini to cook fully (uncovered), stirring occasionally. Add garlic (if you didn't add powder above.

Drain orzo. Add it to skillet and turn heat to low. Mix it up with the zucchini mixture. Add pinches chicken bouillon granules. Add any soft vegetables you may be using such as tomatoes or spinach. Add cheese(s). Give it a stir or two. Taste, adjusting seasoning and serve. Note: I liked this best simply plain, but Kip liked his best with a bit of tomato sauce mixed in. Of course, you can also add meatballs or sausage or whatever if you wish to de-vegetarian it.

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Oven-Roasted Tomato Sauce

Cheap Eat Challenge, Part 2: Watch as our family of 6 eats on $10/day.

Let me say 2 things about this sauce:

1. It was completely awesome in every way. Seriously, I'm ready for another batch, hot oven be darned. The flavors are so much more complex and full than with a skillet sauce.
2. My older kids wouldn't touch it. Would. Not. Touch. It. No, it wasn't chunky. No, there wasn't spinach hidden within. But it was orange-ish as opposed to the dark red of the store bought tomato puree.
3. It was super easy.
4. It is an absolutely fabulous way to use up lots of tomatoes--like when you have too many to eat, but not enough to can.
5. Yes, this is more than 2 things. It's a problem I have with lists. They always end up longer than I think they will. Please tell me I am not alone in having this problem.

Oven-Roasted Tomato Sauce
Serves 4
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 1-1 1/2 hours
Cost: It's practically free if you're using garden tomatoes. If you're buying them, try to find them for $1.00/lb and this would cost about $2.50 (although I do have an herb garden, so I'm not counting those fresh herbs)

2 lb Roma tomatoes (other varieties will do as well and we mixed and matched a bit, but Romas are nice for sauces because they have few seeds)
1 onion (white or yellow)
8-10 garlic cloves (sounds like a lot, but the roasting mellows them significantly)
4-6Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp dried basil (didn't have so skipped)
pinch red pepper flakes (Note: I bet if you've got an extra pepper lying around you could chop it up and roast it instead of using the red pepper flakes)
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil
1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper

Heat oven to 300 degrees. Position rack in lower third of oven.

Core tomatoes, slice lengthwise into quarters and scoop out the seeds. (Seeding them really isn't as pesky as it seems in this case and it really yields a nicer finished product. If you miss a few it's not the end of the world, but you don't want an excessively seedy finished sauce--at least we didn't.)

Peel onion and slice it or cut it into 1-inch chunks.

Peel garlic and give it a smash with the flat side of a knife if you wish.

Combine tomatoes, onion, garlic, olive oil, oregano, dries basil and red pepper flakes in a bowl and give them a few tosses. (Of course I just put mine on the pan to toss since I am lazy.) Sprinkle with a bit more olive oil if necessary. Sprinkle generously with salt (it's going to give it just the loveliest flavor when it roasts) and pepper.

Spread vegetables evenly on a baking sheet (I used a jelly roll pan) and roast for 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours. (Note: You can turn up the heat a bit and rush this a little, but don't try to rush it too much; the slow roast is what gives it the nice, complex roasted vegetable flavor.)

Give them a stir a little over halfway through.

Remove from oven and let it cool for a few minutes (unless your husband needs to leave for work in, like, 20 minutes). Then put it in the blender or food processor (get all those yummy sauces off the pan and add them). Add sugar and vinegar and blend until smooth. Add the fresh herbs and pulse it for a few more seconds. (Note: If your family likes chunky sauce, reserve part of the vegetables and just put them in with the herbs and give them a few pulses.) Taste and add salt and pepper if needed.

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Jeanie's Mac and Cheese

Cheap Eat Challenge: Watch our family of 6 try to eat on $6/day.

Jeanie is also my mother-in-law's name. Tricky, I know. When we got married my mother-in-law made some great macaroni and cheese. I'm sure she thought it was just a simple basic recipe that was easy to whip up for a group. But at the time, I had all of, oh, maybe three solid recipes under my belt and a homemade version of something I'd only eaten from a box for my single years seemed advanced.  

It's nice to know that now it's an easy recipe for me to whip up too. But it's still a great crowd pleaser (as long as your crowd does not involve certain of my kids). And it's infinitely adaptable, if you're the type to like infinite adaptations.

You can add Italian seasonings or a shot of hot sauce. You can throw in some spinach or basil or olives. You can add mashed butternut squash to increase the nutritional punch. You can use whatever exciting cheese you like. Or do Italian sausage or turkey sausage or chopped ham. We keep it simple because some of us are not what you would call 'adventurous.' The great thing about it is that it's still really good.  

Jeanie's Mac and Cheese

Makes enough for 9x13 inch pan

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

Cost: $3.15

(macaroni: .50, tomatoes: .75, hamburger: 1.00; cheese: .75, milk: .08, butter: .07)

2-3 C cooked macaroni (1-1 1/2 C dry macaroni)

1 14-oz. can diced tomatoes (with some juice)

1/2 lb hamburger (we used less)

1 1/2 C cheddar cheese, divided

1 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp flour

1/2 C milk

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

Boil macaroni in water until al dente. Do not boil it until it's mush. Remember, you'll be baking it as well. When it's ready (I taste mine), drain it.

While pasta is cooking, cook hamburger in a skillet till it's browned. Drain and discard most of the fat.

Prepare a white sauce: First melt the butter. Whisk in the flour until there's a paste. Add the onion powder and garlic powder. Whisk in the milk until all is smooth. Heat it until it thickens to a saucy consistency (not a pot of paste). 

Combine pasta, tomatoes, white sauce, and 1 C of the cheddar cheese. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Spread in 9x13 inch pan. Sprinkle remaining cheese on the top.

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Smooth and Tasty Marinara Sauce (aka Five Minute Marinara Sauce)

Cheap Eat Challenge: Watch as our family of 6 eats on $6/day.

You may have heard me mention--oh, a time or two--that my children (and often husband) do not like "chunkies." Chunkies are anything that gives a dish a little texutre--chopped onions, oatmeal, nuts, tomatoes, dried fruit, seeds--you get the picture. Therefore when we eat spaghetti sauce, it is requisite that it have no chunkies. Since I'd prefer for my kids to top their pasta with tomato sauce rather than butter, it's a battle I don't choose to fight. Also their father is on their side, which leaves me rather soundly out-numbered. Also, even though this isn't my number one favorite ever pasta sauce, it's pretty darn good.

And while we're talking about picky people, let me get a confession out here on the table. In college I was very careful with my fats and calories--too careful, way too careful, rude kind of careful. I did not often eat dinner with my roommates (they must have been relieved), but one night I was home and they were having pasta and I was invited. It was sweet and delicious and my roommate--who, for the record, was the nicest person in the universe, ever--revealed that she had put a little sugar in it. I freaked out. Why, I asked, would anyone knowingly add, like, 25 calories to something that previously did not have 25 calories. I didn't say it quite like that, but something along those lines. I am not sure I finished my food. My roommate should have stuffed it up my snooty little nose. But she didn't. Of course the great irony in my behavior and attitude is that each week I ate tons of Hunt's $.99 pasta sauce (pasta was one of my 3 main college staples), which surely had more than a few calories worth of high fructose corn syrup in it. So, Amber, I'm sorry. I hadn't yet come into my own; I was young and foolish, and I didn't then know what good food tasted like. I will rectify that attitude tonight, as I now know that a little sugar adds a nice contrast to the acid-y bite of tomatoes.

Smooth and Tasty Marinara Sauce
Makes 60 oz.
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Cost: $2.95
(tomato sauce: 2.40, paste: .50, my pesto is homemade; I've no idea how much it costs; other stuff: .05)

2 cans plain, unsalted tomato sauce, 29 oz.
1 can tomato paste
3-4 Tbsp pesto (alternately, you can use 2 handfuls of basil and 1 clove of garlic)
2 Tbsp sugar (brown or white both work)
1/2 Tbsp salt (if using salted tomato sauce, omit completely)
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp pepper

Combine in a pot and simmer for 10 minutes.

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Broccoli Alfredo

Cheap Eat Challenge: Watch as our family of 6 tries to eat on $6/day.

Alfredo isn't the type of food we think of as fitting into a cheap eat challenge. Which was kind of my point in making and posting it. I mean, no, it's not beans and rice. But it's such a decadent rich food, a food we pay a pretty penny for at restaurants, a food we even pay a pretty penny for in the frozen foods section at Walmart (yeah, I had a look this week). And it takes just as long for our waiter to bring it and for us to warm the frozen stuff up in a skillet as it does to make the real mccoy at home--with butter and cream and cheese in all their forbidden loveliness.

One of the food epitome's of my adult life was that Alfredo was really easy to make, a 15-minute meal in fact. A 15-minute meal in which you can easily serve two adults for less than $2.00/person. So why doesn't everyone make it all the time? Well, maybe it's just better in some cases to live in a little bit of ignorance. Do you really want to know that you just consumed 2/3 C cream, 2 T butter, and 1/2 C cheese? (If you don't, just pretend that sentence doesn't exist.)

Which calls forth a small confession. I thought we'd have leftovers for the next day. Um, no, we ate it all. Which is probably just as well, because the teeny half cup portion that was left that I ate later that night, it separated as cheesy creamy buttery things are wont to do.

Broccoli Alredo
adapted from The Best Recipes Cookbook
Serves 2-4 (we made our kids eat spaghetti and marinara)
Prep time: 3 minutes
Cook Time: 8 minutes
Cost: $3.30
(cream: 1.50, cheese: 1.00, broccoli: .50, butter: .30)

Note: As stated above if you make it through my ramblings, this doesn't make the best leftovers. Oh, they're still good and all, and since it separates you can poor some of the oil off, which may not be a bad thing. But it's not the same.

A word on simplicity: Traditionally this is made with fettuccine. We used spaghetti and that worked too, as would many different kinds of pasta. In The New Best Recipes Cookbook, they tell us we must make or purchase fresh fettuccine. "If money is really a concern, set aside a few hours on a Saturday afternoon to make your own homemade noodles and serve your guests genuinely fresh pasta for pennies." Pardon me, Christopher Kimball, while I roll my eyes and disentangle the toddler screaming at my ankles. If your "dinner guests" include people who are single-digit in age, spare yourself the food snobbery and use dry pasta. Look--I'm sure the homemade stuff is competely perfect (if you get it right), but our generic dry pasta was very very tasty too.

And now that I've thoroughly criticized the book from whence this recipe was inspired, let me say they had some great tips as well. In this recipe you cook the pasty to pre-aldente--you want it a little too firm and then you finish cooking it in the creamy stuff. And it's great--it sucks up some of the creaminess and the sauce has just the right amount of cling.

10-12 oz pasta
1 2/3 C cream (we used about 10 oz of pasta and thus a wee bit less cream; it makes us feel better about ourselves)
5 Tbsp butter
1 C Parmesan cheese
2 small heads broccoli

Get some water boiling. Salt it if you wish. I always forget. Add your pasta.

Chop broccoli into bite-sized pieces Put the broccoli in a microwave-safe bowl, add 1/2 C water, cover with plasic wrap and microwave for 2 1/2 minutes. You want it to have some bite when it comes out as you're going to cook it more with the cream mixture. (You don't have to microwave it; you can steam or boil it, but I think this is the fastest method and you'd be surprised how great microwaved broccoli comes out.)

While that all cooks, combine butter and 1 1/3 C cream until it is simmering very gently. You want it to reduce just a bit, but not too much. (When using spaghetti, the timing worked out just right. By the time the creamy stuff was simmering and just a bit reduced, the pasta and broccoli were ready to go in.)

When the pasta is not quite to the al dente point, drain it. (It should have some bite--the middle should still be a little hard.) Remove the broccoli from the microwave and carefully drain it as well. Add the pasta and broccoli to the cream mixture. Add the remaining 1/3 C cream, the Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper to taste (and a little nutmeg if you're feeling feisty). Cook over low heat, stirring to combine the ingredients, until the sauce is slightly thickened. Note: You want the sauce to remain a little loose (not runny, but runny-ish to use a less pretty, but possibly clearer term) when it goes into the bowls/plates. As it cools it will thicken more. If it's totally thick when you take it off the heat, it'll end up a little dry and gummy.

Serve immediately.

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