Sunday, December 21, 2008

Snow Induced Cooking



It's amazing what you can find in your kitchen/freezer when it's too snowy to go to the store. I swear, it WILL NOT STOP SNOWING! For anyone not from this area, this is not normal for us. I enjoy snow because usually it shows up, melts in a day or two, then bye-bye. I am ready for it to stop now! It has been going almost non-stop for 3 days straight. Yesterday I ventured out to my local neighborhood to do some Christmas shopping since it's only about 5 blocks away. I took my car because I'm worried about it sitting out in this cold weather not being run. (Plus I'm a lazy ass.) My car was covered when I left a few hours later.


Since it's too crazy to hit the store I thought about what food might be left in my house. I remembered there was some Bolognese sauce in my freezer from a big batch I made a few months ago. I poked around my pantry and found a half box of mostaccioli (that means "big pasta tubes" in English!) As it was boiling, I checked the box for how long to let it go and noticed a recipe for "Tuscan Pasta Bake" on the back. It was basically a meat sauce mixed with the pasta and cheese, then baked. I found some shredded mozzarella in my fridge (no blue mold or anything...how'd that happen?) and decided to go for it. I'm horrible at making up food, so this was a big leap for me. I heated up the sauce I already had and left out the Parmesan since I didn't have any (how'd that happen?) then baked the pasta and sauce for about 10 minutes uncovered because I ran out of foil (how'd that happen?) I threw the cheese on top and stuck it back in for 10 minutes more. While poking around in the freezer, I found a couple of flatbread things I'd bought a while back to try. I think they're made by the Boboli people. So I threw those in to bake at the same time. Here's how it all turned out.



It was so good! (How'd that happen?)

I used an 11 x 7 pan, but it's still a lot just for me. Guess I know what I'm eating for the rest of the week!

6 comments:

  1. It looks so yummy!! I enjoy snow for the same reasons you do, but it is definitely overstaying its welcome. We are up to about 8 inches now after heavy snowing this afternoon. I'm very SICK of it!! Margaret P.S. I sure don't know how I commented on here before because I sure can't do it now. It keeps telling me Your OpenID credentials could not be verified. If this posts, it'll be a miracle.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yum! I'm similarly freezer-searching here in hunker-down land. And I always want comfort food during weather like this.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yum...it looks good!

    I've been baking like crazy. Which isn't a good thing because we have no way to get out and give the goodies away!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I totally agree with you on the snow! It just won't stop! We got more last night and are supposed to get 1-2 more inches today.

    Your dinner looks good!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I think we're all in the same boat. Snow, get lost. You're done.

    At least I have lots of time to make my Christmas candy (and try not to eat it.)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Mmmm looks pretty good to me...

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for commenting! You make my life worth living! Um, yeah.