Another one from the vintage cookbook…

Pardon the  layout–I’m toying with the idea of a redesign, but likely won’t get to it for another couple of weeks.  I was tired of all that pink.

This one isn’t nearly as nasty as the last one, but I still just don’t know about it. When I was a kid, though, I probably would have been very excited.

Potato Puff Casserole

1 lb ground beef

1/2 c chopped onion

1/2 c chopped green pepper

1 T ketchup

1 10-oz can of (the ubiquitous) cream of mushroom soup

1/4 c water

and, of course, 1 10-oz package potato puffs

For any of you who are keen to make it: brown meat with onion and peppers. Add ketchup, soup and water. Turn into a 1 1/2 quart casserole. Cover with puffs. Bake at 375 for 35 minutes. Serves 4.

Oooh, new favorite way to use my time…

I think I’m likely one of the last people to notice the existence of The Kitchn, Apartment Therapy’s all-things-epicurean subdivision, but boy am I glad to have found it. Today’s entry is about overwhelming numbers of cookbooks. This is clearly a place for me.

We’ve been slowly weeding stuff out of the house in preparation for an upcoming yard sale, and I’d even put a couple of cookbooks in that pile that I think will be crawling back onto the shelf. Who knows if I might want it again?

So while I really ought to be grading papers (so many) or writing exams (three) or working on the paper that’s long overdue for an upcoming conference (whoops), I’m instead drawn to the Kitchn’s archives. It’s vastly preferable to work.

Pantry Pasta

Most weeks when we go grocery shopping we buy stuff to make five dinners. As of late, a lot of food has languished in the fridge as, despite my intentions to actually save money, we’ve been eating out more. Knowing you’re moving out of state means you have to hit up all your favorite places before you go, you see. Furthermore, running errands starting at 6:30, for us, means we have no desire to come back and cook afterward or wait to have dinner first before we go. This also translates to eating lunch out, too, as there are no leftovers to bring to work. Lameness! I used up some of the poor aging veggies in the fridge this week to make a pantry pasta–you can use whatever you’ve got on hand, as this is pretty flexible.

I chopped up a clove of garlic, an onion, what was not decaying of a sad zucchini, and a summer squash. The latter I cut into rounds that were about 1/2″ or less thick, and I cut the big ones in half.

Put a pot of water on. I cooked 1/2 lb of rotini for this.

While rotini cooks, add a couple tablespoons of olive oil to a big, wide saute pan. Add onion and a little salt, and allow to cook a few minutes until it starts to soften. Add zucchini and summer squash. Cook for a few minutes. Add a little water or chicken broth to the pan to deglaze it and to cook the veg more. I then added 8 or so halved cherry tomatoes. A little more broth. Then I remembered the garlic and tossed that in with a little oregano and red pepper flakes. Add cooked pasta and a little more broth to make a sauce. Add a nob of butter to make velvety, and that’s that. Serves four, and make sure there is lots of parmesan or pecorino to go on top. Yum!