Friday, September 30, 2022

Quick, Easy, and Cheap Meals: Spaghetti!

 


As a young bride,  I didn't know how to cook a meal.  Yep, Mother never allowed me in the kitchen except to clean.  I think it had something to do with that burned hamburger and smoky walls.  Oh, we were so lucky that I didn't burn down the house!  

I started the stove and decided it was time to practice my flute in the basement.  I was young and stupid.  My sis decided it was time to nap on the couch.  She woke up to a very smoky house. First, we opened windows (it was winter time) than we started cleaning kitchen cabinets and walls.  We were exhausted till older sister came in from her job and got us washing walls all over again. Finally,  Mother came in and saw the walls and we all washed some more.  She said she wished she claimed it on their home owners insurance.  The only way that the walls looked clean and white again was some good paint.

Everyone has a horror story of childhood I think this was one of mine.

So, faced without much knowledge of making meals, one of my older sisters clued me into how to make spaghetti.  After that, I always had some spaghetti in the pantry, a jar of sauce, and some hamburger in the freezer.  Sometimes I had onions, sometimes I did not.  




Cook your hamburger till brown (I used a 1 pound of hamburger, you can half this and use less).  I love using a meat masher that you see in the right hand corner.  It chops up the meat into little crumbles instead of big clops.


Then add in some onions if you have them.  Onion prep:  at the beginning of the week chop up a onion and put it in a sealed plastic baggy in the refrigerator.  It will really help with future meals!


As your meat is cooking, start boiling your water and add your spaghetti noodles.  Cook until fork tender, about 10 minutes.  Listen, I would tell you how many noodles to cook but let's just say I have enough left over to feed to the chickens (they think they are worms).


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Add sauce (any kind you like) into the browned hamburger and cook until warm on medium.

If  what's keeping you from making spaghetti is that you don't have time to make the sauce from scratch, stop that.  Just find some jars on sale, stock up when you do, and use them instead.  Don't feel guilty about it either. There is no way I can make a sauce as good as store bought (what's on sale is my favorite).  

**To make one jar of spaghetti sauce stretch to feed more people, add a can or jar of tomatoes.  


Drain pasta and toss with about 1 tblsp of butter.  


I like to keep my pasta and sauce separately.  That way each person can dish up how much they would like.  Granddaughter just likes to eat pasta by itself with a little butter.


What's your favorite meal that's quick and easy?


See you next week with another quick, easy, and cheap meal!  

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10 comments:

Kathy said...

Too funny about the smoky house although I'm sure it wasn't funny at the time. I'm sure fresh paint covered it up nicely. I think everyone has a cooking mishap.
I use jarred pasta sauce and spaghetti noodles, and it makes an easy and yummy meal. I've tried making pasta noodles, but honestly I prefer san giorgio noodles. I make homemade sauce when I fix lasagna though.
Hope you have a great weekend. We are supposed to get wind and rain from the remnants of Ian.

Cheryl Kimbley said...

Spaghetti - such an easy and yummy dinner. Comfort food!

Elle said...

I wish I liked can/jar sauce but I think they are awful. I make huge batches when the garden is "ON" and freeze in 1 qt containers and then vacuum seal.

If others have the same issue but no time/space for garden/cook/freeze.....

2 cans stewed tomatoes, 2 tbsp tomato paste, 3 tsp Italian seasoning mix and simmer while the pasta is cooking. 30minutes and done!

AND, I cook up 1# Italian Sausage, 1# of ground beef or turkey, drain and freeze in a ziploc. Break off a chunk and add 4oz per 2 servings.

Fast and tasty :-)

Vickie @Vickie's Kitchen and Garden said...

Kathy, I've tried making noodles too, no luck. Home made sauce with lasagna sounds so good. Vickie

Vickie @Vickie's Kitchen and Garden said...

Cheryl, Comfort food at its best! Vickie

Vickie @Vickie's Kitchen and Garden said...

Elle, thanks for the easy recipe! I love that and maybe I'll just do that soon! Have a great day!
Vickie

Lana said...

My Dad always referred to that kind of cooking as Butt Cooking! Put something on to cook and go sit down until you smell it burning! I'm like Elle and cannot abide a jar of sauce so I make homemade meat sauce for 8 meals and freezer or can it. A can of Luck's beans with some added seasonings and rice with cornbread and a green vegetable are my quick go to meal.

Vickie @Vickie's Kitchen and Garden said...

Your meal is just what my husband loves! Its a delicious meal for sure!
Sounds like you make a great spaghetti sauce!

Practical Parsimony said...

I cook several pounds of ground beef with onions. Then, I drain well and put it in a bag in the refrigerator. It is right there when I want to open a jar of spaghetti. I make great spaghetti, but cannot stand at the stove long enough to cook. But, if you add mushrooms, garlic, and olive oil, the jar will taste more like homemade.

The ground beef chopped and cooked and in the refrigerator is the basis for many meals and can be put on top of a salad, too.

Vickie @Vickie's Kitchen and Garden said...

Such good suggestions to make it easy Practical. It's what we all need right now.