Friday, September 6, 2013

Quick Spaghetti

Missy, here. I bought a magazine back in the spring. It's one of those thick book-like magazines, and it's full of recipes. It's from Real Simple Best Recipes. And this one is titled Easy, Delicious Meals.

On the cover, which is what drew me to it (I do believe it called my name!), it pictures this amazing spaghetti. Every time I see the cover I crave meat sauce.


I just made this again on Tuesday when I barely had time before hubby had to be back at the church for a meeting. It truly is quick and easy! And DELISH.

Spaghetti with Quick Meat Sauce
From Real Simple (I found it on their website. Click here.)

Ingredients

  • 12 ounces spaghetti (3/4 of a box)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 2 carrots, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 3/4 pound ground beef
  • 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
  • 1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan (1 ounce)

Directions

  1. Cook the pasta according to the package directions.
  2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 8 to 10 minutes.
  3. Increase heat to medium-high. Add the beef, salt, and pepper and cook, breaking up the meat with a spoon, until no longer pink, 4 to 5 minutes.
  4. Add the tomatoes and simmer, stirring occasionally, until sauce slightly thickens, about 5 minutes. Stir in the parsley.
  5. Serve the pasta with the sauce and sprinkle with the Parmesan.
By  , April, 2009

Adjustments I made:
I used a bit over a pound of beef.
I used dried parsley because that's all I had this time around.
I used a full box of spaghetti noodles, because who on earth would ever just make 3/4 of a box?! :)
I used matchstick carrots (in the bag, already prepared) but chopped them finer. Was still quicker than chopping whole carrots.
I happened to have a red onion already cut so used that this time. I used Vidalia last time. Doesn't seem to matter what type you use.
I used WAY more parmesan because that's the way we roll around here. We love cheese! (Actually, hubby and daughter use Sargento 4-Cheese Italian mix.)

I thought I took photos last time I made this. But I only had the finished shot. Here it is. YUM! I may have to go have a midnight snack with leftovers!



11 comments:

  1. I did a similar thing yesterday.... crazy busy with kids, was staining window moldings for new room, carpet coming today, so stuff had to be done and I thought I could make sauce (I used some italian sausage patties chopped up and gently browned because they were about to get moldy, so burying them in sauce seemed like a good idea!!!!) No one knew or died, so they must have been mostly okay.

    And then there were 300 people here, not really 300, but a bunch and it was fun and Mandy took over dinner and Beth took over being very pregnant and Dave killed yellow jackets in the ginormous wood pile and Bob-the-builder kept mitering corners and framing windows and I stained and half a dozen cute kids were playing American Ninja Warriors Obstacle Course in my back yard (this is not at all hard to set up because my yard is an obstacle course....)

    But they were having fun, and moving and shrieking and everything got done and at 7:30 or so when I had spaghetti it was SO GOOD!!!

    The end.

    Missy, thank you for posting this. It's clearly Karma. :)

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    1. I read that you stained a dozen cute kids and I thought, "That's what happens when I do home improvement projects, too!"

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  2. Yes, Ruthy. Spaghetti truly is an easy go-to meal when life gets crazy. Although, I have to admit YOUR crazy is a whole lot wilder than MY crazy!! LOL

    Hope that baby gets here ASAP!! You'll have one more to add to your chaos. :)

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  3. Thanks a lot, Missy. Now I'm craving spaghetti. And it's not even lunch time. I just might have to try this out. See how hubby likes it compared to Prego. He's a Prego die hard. Oh, well, we'll see what thinks about this.

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    Replies
    1. Mindy, it's different from the standard jar sauce (which my family members actually prefer). It's chunkier. And not real "saucy." Hubby thought it was a little dry. But I love it!

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  4. I just bought two cases of tomatoes, along with a case of peaches, one of pears, two bags of plums and 10# of potatoes - the produce truck from the North West arrived this morning.

    So with the canning I'm going to be doing over the next couple days, I think this spaghetti sauce is made to order!

    And just in case you think I've forgotten my September deadline - I'm putting my minimum daily word count in while the canning jars are in the dishwasher :)

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    1. I was going to say, sounds like my backyard! We've got plums, grapes, peaches, pears, and just bought a box of apples yesterday.

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    2. Y'all amaze me with all your fresh fruit! I'm so jealous.

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  5. You all are tiring me out.

    Honestly, this first week of school, it doesn't take much to tire me out. Just reading the recipe is enough. Want to come make it for me, Missy?

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    Replies
    1. Boy, Mary. You sure do start late! My daughter just got a progress report already!

      I'll be glad to come make it for you. :)

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