The Comforts of Home

A chilly rainy night home alone pretty much signals comfort food for many of us. That's exactly what I was thinking tonght when I made a big pot of spaghetti and meat sauce.

I didn't want to go to too much trouble with cooking or cleaning so I just doctored up some jarred spaghetti sauce. I complemented the sauce with plenty of vegetables including eggplant, carrots, onions, mushrooms and red peppers. I also added some extra lean ground beef seasoned with plenty of red pepper flakes, garlic, salt, italian seasoning and a little red wine vinegar.

It sounds simple but I actually ended up dirtying four pots because I was trying to cook in a hurry. I used one pot to boil the eggplant, one to cook the meat, two for the spaghetti sauce because the first one wouldn't fit the sauce, meat and all the veggies at the same time and a large stockpot to boil the whole wheat pasta. Once everything was cooked and relatively cleaned up, I filled a big bowl with pasta and sauce and topped it with lots of freshly shredded Parmesan cheese.

The rain was coming down pretty good at this point and it was starting to get dark outside so I curled up on the couch and polished off the whole bowl. It was completely delicious and satisfying. In fact, the sauce's flavor was almost addictive. The large variety of vegetables, including the eggplant and mushrooms, combined with the savory beef made this dish irresistible. Moo Shu, our cat, loves spaghetti sauce. I know it's bizarre but it's the one human food we feed her. I always let her lick the bowl once I'm finished. She loves it and tonight was no exception. Despite missing Johnnycakes, Moo Shu and I shared quite an evening on the couch enjoying one of our favorite comfort foods.

Spaghetti Dinner

I have been craving a good ole plate of spaghetti for at least a month but Johnnycakes hasn't been on the same page because of the new grill. I finally won out tonight and we made a delicious red sauce with lots of veggies and meat over Barilla whole wheat angel hair.

I used a store bought bottle of Prego as the base for the sauce and loaded it with lots of extras from the fridge. I chopped up yellow squash, yellow onion, a carrot and half of a red pepper and sauteed the vegetables in extra virgin olive oil and garlic until soft. Meanwhile, I browned 94% lean ground beef seasoned with crushed red pepper, garlic powder, salt, pepper and Italian seasoning in another sauce pan. I also chopped a leftover pork chop and added it to the cooked meat. We combined the meats and veggies and simmered them together while the whole wheat spaghetti cooked in the boiling salt water.

We topped our heaping bowls of spaghetti and sauce with loads of freshly shredded Parmesan cheese.

The food was comforting and not fancy at all but it really hit the spot! The best part about pasta is that there are always plenty of leftovers for lunches during the week.