The More Cheese the Merrier!

Tonight I'm putting leftovers to work again. No recipe really. No cookbook crossed off the list as part of the cooking challenge.

That's okay. I'll pour over one or more of them later tonight and plot the next effort to whittle down the list.

Anyhow, tonight was pretty simple. Leftover meat spaghetti sauce. Leftover ricotta. Boil some rigatoni. Mix with the sauce, ricotta and an extra can of Hunt's Diced Tomatoes. Add some dobs of the ricotta. Pour in a greased pan. And then add mozzarella.

Lots of mozzarella.

And I mean LOTS. No holds barred lots. Half the block of cheese lots. Sometimes even the whole darned block of cheese lots.

Because more cheese is better.

That's all there is to it, really.

I justify my consumption of huge quantities of cheese by reminding myself that osteoporosis is a terrible, awful disease and the calcium in cheese will save me.

Anyhow, dinner was good. Ricotta mixed in. Mozzarella melted on top. Parmesan sprinkled on it before serving.

Yum.

It was even furball approved. She must like cheese too.

Waste Not...

I have a new rule for this cooking challenge.

Do NOT waste food.

And by that I do not mean, "Eat everything in sight." I do not mean, "Eat it all, even if it tastes gross." And I do not mean, "Well, it only smells a little funny. I'm sure it'll be fine after I cook it."

Tonight's dinner is an example of this rule.

After making the Natchitoches Meat Pies on Sunday, I had browned, seasoned ground beef and pork leftover as well as some sun-dried tomatoes that were used in Chiqui's Creole Dip.

To make sure I didn't let them become disgusting petri dishes, I sought out a recipe amongst the 45 cookbooks that have not yet been used. Easy enough, right? Mostly, except that I kept finding recipes for things like Tamale pie, which I've made before (breaking the "it's gotta be new to me" rule) or Shepherd's Pie, which I couldn't really imagine with a spicy meat base.

Well... You know... Maybe if I had used some sweet potatoes instead of potatoes...

Wait. Nevermind. That would not have adhered to the waste not rule per se since I would have had to buy more ingredients. Anyhow...

I went for the meat spaghetti sauce from the 12th edition of the "Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book." Having no tomato paste, I figured that sauteeing the sun-dried tomatoes in their own oil would serve as a nice substitute. I tossed in the previously browned meat, a couple of cans Hunt's Fire-Roasted Tomatoes, some oregano and a pinch of thyme; let it simmer; and then poured it over spaghetti. Add a little grated parmesan, and dinner was done!

All-in-all, this was a way super easy dinner. But if I had had to chop up all the veggies and brown the meat tonight, I might have skipped it because of the mess and time required.

Lesson learned? If you're going to brown a bunch of meat like I did on Sunday, then brown extra for a future meal and save yourself some time.

Oh... And on a closing note. I didn't hurt myself this time. Phew! Still all bandaged up though.

And check out all the bandages! Four in all... Woo. Hoo. Or not. Bleh.

P.S. No. I have not made spaghetti sauce before. That's the sort of thing that comes in jars and is for lazy dinners.