Meal Planning and Spaghetti Bake
The last two Mondays I have attempted to plan out the meals for that week. Last week I stuck to the plan about 60% of the time. A person can plan for tuna salad all day long, but when it's cold outside, something hot sounds better. So tuna salad turned into soup and grilled cheese sandwich. Like last night, I was planning chicken salad, but that turned into uncured beef hot dogs and garden salad.
From here out I am going to blog my meal plans to see how well I stick to it.
So for tonight, Wednesday, spaghetti bake is on the menu. But already I'm concerned. I only brought the ground bison (it was on manager's special at Kroger for $2.50!) out of the freezer this morning. I don't own a microwave so a quick thaw is out. Side note on microwave ovens, I haven't used one in four years and don't miss it.
Hopefully the meat will be thawed enough in the fridge to use when I get home. I've made spaghetti sauce from scratch many times, but this evening I'm going to start with organic sauce and add fresh bell peppers, onions, zucchini and ground bison. I should get at least two meals out this dish, so it will be on the menu Saturday.
Spaghetti bake. How do I interrupt it?
I boil enough pasta with half a teaspoon of pink salt, to half way fill an oven safe casserole dish. I use my Pyrex 6 cup dish. Also, for the past 4 years I have been using rice pasta, like Tinkyada. As long as you drain the cooked pasta in cold water before adding to the casserole dish, it won't fall apart. After completely drained, I put the pasta in dish and add 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, toss lightly to cover.
While pasta is cooking, I start sauteing the ground bison meat on our cast iron skillet. Also, I cut up half a bell pepper, half an onion and a whole zucchini. When the meat is 3/4 cooked, I add the pepper and onion.
Sheepishly I open the jar of organic sauce and dump it in a saute pan to heat. Once it comes to a simmer, I put in the zucchini, meat, pepper, onion and the juices from the pan. I let simmer another 10 minutes while Joe grates the cheeses. I like to use about 1 cup white cheddar, 1 cup Colby jack and sprinkle Parmesan cheese on the assembled bake. Sometimes I mix it up and add feta cheese or provolone.
On to assembly. First the pasta, then add the meat sauce, stirring to make sure pasta is covered. Then sprinkle the cheeses on top. Simple. I bake it in the oven at 325F and check it after 25 minutes. I take it out of the oven when it's bubbly and the cheese has melted. Then I let it rest for 10-15 minutes before eating. Total time varies, but usually about 1 1/2 hours. So even if I start this as soon as I get home, we aren't eating until almost 8pm.
It's really an easy recipe, just don't use angel hair pasta. I did that ONCE and it was horrible! The pasta swelled up, absorbed all the sauce and it ended up looking more like a brick of pasta. Rotini (spiral) pasta works well as does spaghetti, fettucini and elbow.
From here out I am going to blog my meal plans to see how well I stick to it.
So for tonight, Wednesday, spaghetti bake is on the menu. But already I'm concerned. I only brought the ground bison (it was on manager's special at Kroger for $2.50!) out of the freezer this morning. I don't own a microwave so a quick thaw is out. Side note on microwave ovens, I haven't used one in four years and don't miss it.
Hopefully the meat will be thawed enough in the fridge to use when I get home. I've made spaghetti sauce from scratch many times, but this evening I'm going to start with organic sauce and add fresh bell peppers, onions, zucchini and ground bison. I should get at least two meals out this dish, so it will be on the menu Saturday.
Spaghetti bake. How do I interrupt it?
I boil enough pasta with half a teaspoon of pink salt, to half way fill an oven safe casserole dish. I use my Pyrex 6 cup dish. Also, for the past 4 years I have been using rice pasta, like Tinkyada. As long as you drain the cooked pasta in cold water before adding to the casserole dish, it won't fall apart. After completely drained, I put the pasta in dish and add 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, toss lightly to cover.
While pasta is cooking, I start sauteing the ground bison meat on our cast iron skillet. Also, I cut up half a bell pepper, half an onion and a whole zucchini. When the meat is 3/4 cooked, I add the pepper and onion.
Sheepishly I open the jar of organic sauce and dump it in a saute pan to heat. Once it comes to a simmer, I put in the zucchini, meat, pepper, onion and the juices from the pan. I let simmer another 10 minutes while Joe grates the cheeses. I like to use about 1 cup white cheddar, 1 cup Colby jack and sprinkle Parmesan cheese on the assembled bake. Sometimes I mix it up and add feta cheese or provolone.
On to assembly. First the pasta, then add the meat sauce, stirring to make sure pasta is covered. Then sprinkle the cheeses on top. Simple. I bake it in the oven at 325F and check it after 25 minutes. I take it out of the oven when it's bubbly and the cheese has melted. Then I let it rest for 10-15 minutes before eating. Total time varies, but usually about 1 1/2 hours. So even if I start this as soon as I get home, we aren't eating until almost 8pm.
It's really an easy recipe, just don't use angel hair pasta. I did that ONCE and it was horrible! The pasta swelled up, absorbed all the sauce and it ended up looking more like a brick of pasta. Rotini (spiral) pasta works well as does spaghetti, fettucini and elbow.
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