Thursday, March 12, 2009

Q-tip: Spaghetti

Spaghetti is boring. The same old same old. Right?

*shrug* Depends on who you ask. If you're askin' me, no. It's not boring. But that's probably because We don't just eat warmed spaghetti sauce from a jar on top of noodles.

Spaghetti is a very versatile thing. Add meat and the whole thing changes. Ground beef is a normal choice for sure. We usually brown a pound of hamburger, then I save half of it and freeze it for future spaghetti uses. Or try making it with meatballs instead of just browning ground beef. That'd be a treat.

Bored with beef? Try ground pork. Tyler LOVES spaghetti with ground pork. My mom used to make it with sausage. That's a favorite of mine. Or try chicken.

Chicken? Yes. chicken.

So you've tried all the meat options and decide you love it with beef, but it's still boring. What now? Try changing the pasta. There's an idea. Eat spaghetti with angel hair, bow tie, elbow macaroni, penne, or rotini (the swirly pastas). They all taste pretty much the same but you'd be surprised how much of a difference it will make.

So you decide you like the chicken and the rotini the best. What now?

Here is my new favorite idea. Add a jar of Alfredo sauce to your spaghetti sauce. Yes, Alfredo. My sister, Maura, does this all the time and calls it tomato cream sauce. I just ate it tonight for the first time and loved it. Tyler loved it too. He even went back for seconds. It's easy, it's delicious, it's new. What more could you ask for?

Let's say you make regular spaghetti and beef, but you make too much. Dreading leftovers? Don't. Butter fry your left over spaghetti and it will taste better the second night than it did the first. Just melt some butter - a lot of butter - in a skillet and dump in your leftovers. Heat until warm and the noodles have turned orange. Oooooohhh, it's so delicious.

So. Now you have some ideas for ways to dress up your spaghetti.

Enjoy! Pin It