Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Lickety Split Spaghetti

The only thing better than a quick and easy meal is a quick and easy meal that's worth the effort (or non-effort) whether you're in a hurry or not. You can tweak it to feed an army or just one. Although my husband's favorite spaghetti is next-day spaghetti. You know, leftovers:-)

Now your ingredient list is rather extensive, so I hope you're ready.

Ready?

Okay, here's what you'll need:
  • 1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce (our fave is Prego)
  • Sweet Italian sausage, casings removed (I like to use the turkey variety and usually for this size recipe I cook 5 links, but I snitched a couple for another recipe, so I only have 3 this time around)
  • Spaghetti, enough to suit the amount of sauce you plan to make (since mine is a 23.5 oz. jar, I'll cook 12-14 oz of noodles).
See? Now doesn't that sound laborious?

So, first you want to put on a big old pot of water, add some salt, and get that to boiling for your noodles.

While that's going, remove the casings from your sausage and brown that up.


Drain off any fat. Now add the sauce, stir, cover and simmer until heated through. Trust me on this one, a cover is a good thing. Nothing worse than sauce spattering all over the counter from an unexpected bubble bursting.

Cook your pasta according to package directions. Here's a tip. Lay a wooden spoon over the top of your boiling pot and it will not boil over. Love that!

Portion pasta into bowls or plates, then top with sauce. A meal in less than 30 minutes. Now if you want to get fancy, throw in a side salad and some garlic bread. Now that's some good eatin'.

The secret here is the sweet Italian sausage. It takes the ordinary and makes it extraordinary.
 

When the meal is over, hubby tosses any remaining sauce and noodles together, tucks it in the fridge, and patiently awaits lunch the next day. Gotta love a man who loves leftovers.
 
Now if only we could teach the boys.

6 comments:

  1. Love it! I do this often, Mindy. Usually with ground beef. Sometimes with no meat at all (just buy the meat flavored sauce).

    Looks like you use my favorite brand of noodles! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, Missy, we have to sneak in nutrition wherever we can. And the Barilla Plus is as good for us as it is for the kids. Makes me feel less guilty if I indulge in a second helping:-)

      Delete
  2. This is my favorite way to make spaghetti, too! A good, quick, stick to the ribs meal.

    I use Newman's Own sauce, though. All natural ingredients means no citric acid or MSG, and that makes me a happy camper :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jan, I haven't tried the Newman's Own, though I love their dressings. Might have to give that one whirl next time. See if hubby complains. He likes his Prego.

      Delete
  3. Do you ever have "runny" spaghetti? I haven't figured out how not to have the sauce run except to mix it all together (and then the men in the house expect there to be extra cheese mixed in, and more cheese sprinkled on top).

    Andrea

    ReplyDelete
  4. I was just thinking about spaghetti! Now I really want some...

    ReplyDelete