Jan's Quick and Easy Spaghetti

Jan here, and I know what you're thinking - What could be easier than spaghetti? It's a basic family dish, and a favorite of kids everywhere.

But I have a recipe that uses only one pot, so that makes clean up even easier, doesn't it?

More about these guys later!

This recipe is for either your Slow Cooker or your Instant Pot (counter-top pressure cooker). Both appliances make this super simple. Serves 6.

ingredients:

1) About one pound meat (optional for vegetarians!): the meat you use is completely up to you. I used browned ground beef, but you could use browned ground Italian sausage, meatballs...whatever you like. Just make sure it's already cooked.

2) Spaghetti sauce, enough to have a total of about 37-38 ounces of tomatoey sauce. I used a combination of a 22 ounce jar of spaghetti sauce and a 15 ounce can of diced tomatoes, and it worked very well.

3) Herbs for flavoring: I used 1/2 teaspoon each of garlic powder, onion powder, dried basil and dried oregano.

4) 36 ounces water.

5) 1 pound dry spaghetti noodles, broken in half.

6) Optional additions, according to your preference: chopped green pepper, chopped onions, sliced mushrooms (canned or fresh), etc.

Slow cooker directions: Combine all the ingredients except the spaghetti noodles in the slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 3-5 hours.

During the last 30 minutes of cooking, add the dry spaghetti noodles and stir. If the noodles aren't cooked through at the end of the cooking time, continue cooking for an additional 10 minutes or so...but watch carefully so that the noodles don't get overdone.

Top with Parmesan cheese to serve.

Instant Pot directions: Put the meat and seasonings into the Instant Pot. Put the spaghetti noodles on top, crisscrossing them so they aren't a solid mass. Pour the spaghetti sauce and water over the meat and noodles, using a spoon to submerge the noodles if necessary to make sure they're completely covered.

Seal the instant pot and set it to manual mode, high pressure, 8 minutes cooking time. When the time is up, use the manual quick pressure release.

Open the pot and stir the spaghetti well. It may appear to be a little liquidy right after cooking, but stirring will incorporate all of the liquid into the noodles before serving.

Top with Parmesan cheese and serve.

This past weekend brought us typical March weather. Saturday was clear and warm, with highs in the mid-50's in the Hills, but in the mid-30's in town. Sunday and today are a different story!

But knowing that the weather was changing on Saturday night, we made sure we made a trip up into the Hills during the day!

We started at Custer State Park.

Much of the ground is still black from last November's fire, and logging crews were busy removing the dead trees.

But the signs were there...life will come back to the park!

The snow-melt will seep into the ground, the ashes will enrich the soil with nitrogen, and in a couple months this area will be bright green.

Meanwhile, the bison are enjoying the warm temps and the rich, dormant grass that survived the fire.

We also went to Mt. Rushmore...

When we realized that we hadn't visited the Boys on the Hill at all last year (although we drove by and waved several times!), we thought monthly visits were in order this year.

And we found one of the Mt. Rushmore mountain goats foraging along the road.

(Have I ever mentioned how much we enjoy living here? *sigh*)

Before I forget, you should find "The Amish Nanny's Sweetheart" appearing in your stores this week! I even found a couple copies in our local Walmart!

Or you can order it from Amazon, etc. Links are on my website: www.JanDrexler.com

Have a great week!

Jan Drexler lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota with her husband and growing family. When she isn't writing, she loves hiking in the Hills or satisfying her cross stitch addiction.

You can find Jan on Facebook, Jan Drexler, author, or her website, Jan Drexler.com.