Pony Party: Dinner Edition

Hai!  Pony Party is an open thread: pls do not wreck the party, but pls add yer own stuff in the comments.  Today I will talk about food.

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What’s in your pantry?

I live in a tiny apartment with no pantry at all: but I can store a few things in the fridge and on a shelving unit I bought.  Some essentials: pasta, rice, frozen spinach, canned broth (homemade frozen broth is better, but I keep a few cans around anyway: and bouillion cubes for emergencies).

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So I’m poor.  And I work 10-hour shifts, most days.  This means cooking a ton of stuff so I can nuke it at work; and it means on my days off I rarely make anything extravagant (extravagant, for me, means steak) but I do a lot of stuff with rice and noodles.

Last night, for example, I looked around, and found some cans of condensed mushroom soup; some frozen spinach blocks, and some eggs.  Cooked the rice & a block of spinach; added the mushroom soup & some more water & then cracked a couple of eggs on top & stirred them in.  Call it “savory rice pudding” if you must: it tasted good.

It was not the least bit gourmet; but I didn’t have to go to the store and buy anything, either.

But here’s a real recipe: one that is filling, serves a whole family (or provides a lot of leftovers), and is very nice for a winter dinner:

Baked Ziti

1 lb. ziti

1 lb. Italian sausage (hot or sweet, or a combination of the two)

1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes

2 or 3 tsp. tomato paste

1 or 2 onions, chopped or sliced

fresh garlic, minced, to taste

1 lb. mozzarella (fresh is best, if you can afford it)

1 or 2 lb. ricotta cheese

Parmesan or Romano cheese (again, freshly grated is best)

warm Marinara sauce, for serving (if desired)

(1) Remove sausage from casings & saute in large skillet.  Add onions & garlic & saute until sausage is cooked & onions are translucent.

(2) Add crushed tomatoes and tomato paste & cook until thickened.

(3) Meanwhile, cook and drain ziti according to package instructions.

(4) Place ziti in large bowl; add sauce.  Then add all the cheeses and mix thoroughly.

(5) Place ziti mixture in oiled baking dish (I like a 13x9x2 glass casserole, but really, anything large enough will work) and bake at 350 until it’s hot & bubbling, about half an hour or forty-five minutes.

(6) Serve with hot marinara sauce, if desired.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

So: What do you cook on a tight budget?