Advertisement
Last night, I was feeling somewhat unmotivated to cook, but the fridge was overflowing with food, leftovers, and especially half-empty containers of ingredients from other things that have been cooked recently. So I watched myself some Good Eats and Iron Chef, and the motivation arrived.
So, in the fridge there was part of a large can of crushed tomatoes, a small handful of grape tomatoes, and some yellow and orange bell peppers which were starting to shrivel in the crisper. I thought about using some mushrooms, which were also in the fridge, but you know, I don't like mushrooms.
But that wasn't enough... I wanted some protein, too. I thought about some tasty ground sausage or beef, or maybe small chunks of stew meat, but that would have required thawing. Then, I remembered that I'd pulled out a package of Smart Ground from the freezer a couple weeks ago. Smart Ground is a non-meat "ground meat" that's pretty tasty. Comes in both plain and "taco" flavors. Comes in a big brick, but crumbles into pretty small pieces and more volume.
So, while I'm quartering the tomatoes and dicing half of each bell pepper, I put about a third of a brick (equiv to 1/3 of a pound of meat) in a pan with some olive oil. As it browned, I added salt and pepper and garlic powder.
Then I dumped the crushed tomatoes in a pot (unfortunately, there was only about a third of a can), added the non-meat, a bit of red wine (probably about 1/3 to 1/2 of a cup), and set it to heating on high.
As I finished cutting up the produce, I tossed it in there too. All told, I let it stew for about 30-40 min, adding water as needed. About halfway through, I added a spoonful of sugar. That made it too sweet, so I added a splash of balsalmic vinegar (approx 1/4 cup or less) to balance it.
I coulda let it go for longer, but it was melding together, and I'd made the pasta, soo... after draining the pasta, I slowly folded the pasta into the sauce and dished it out. I almost had too much pasta, but it was ok. All told, I got three me-sized portions out of the pot. Also, it was completely vegetarian ... heck, even vegan, I think.
So, I got dinner for last night, lunch for tonight, and possibly lunch for tomorrow, if my husband didn't eat it...
So, in the fridge there was part of a large can of crushed tomatoes, a small handful of grape tomatoes, and some yellow and orange bell peppers which were starting to shrivel in the crisper. I thought about using some mushrooms, which were also in the fridge, but you know, I don't like mushrooms.
But that wasn't enough... I wanted some protein, too. I thought about some tasty ground sausage or beef, or maybe small chunks of stew meat, but that would have required thawing. Then, I remembered that I'd pulled out a package of Smart Ground from the freezer a couple weeks ago. Smart Ground is a non-meat "ground meat" that's pretty tasty. Comes in both plain and "taco" flavors. Comes in a big brick, but crumbles into pretty small pieces and more volume.
So, while I'm quartering the tomatoes and dicing half of each bell pepper, I put about a third of a brick (equiv to 1/3 of a pound of meat) in a pan with some olive oil. As it browned, I added salt and pepper and garlic powder.
Then I dumped the crushed tomatoes in a pot (unfortunately, there was only about a third of a can), added the non-meat, a bit of red wine (probably about 1/3 to 1/2 of a cup), and set it to heating on high.
As I finished cutting up the produce, I tossed it in there too. All told, I let it stew for about 30-40 min, adding water as needed. About halfway through, I added a spoonful of sugar. That made it too sweet, so I added a splash of balsalmic vinegar (approx 1/4 cup or less) to balance it.
I coulda let it go for longer, but it was melding together, and I'd made the pasta, soo... after draining the pasta, I slowly folded the pasta into the sauce and dished it out. I almost had too much pasta, but it was ok. All told, I got three me-sized portions out of the pot. Also, it was completely vegetarian ... heck, even vegan, I think.
So, I got dinner for last night, lunch for tonight, and possibly lunch for tomorrow, if my husband didn't eat it...
posted by:
|
Unsubscribed |
Advertisement
Advertisement
