Poor Man's Lasagna

This is one of my family's favorites! You can substitute any kind of pasta for the egg noodles. Quick and Easy!

Poor Man’s Lasagna

1 lb. ground beef or turkey
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 16 oz. pkg. extra-wide egg noodles
12 oz. grated mozzarella cheese
1 8 oz. carton cottage cheese

Crumble and brown ground meat. Drain fat. Add spaghetti sauce. Boil egg noodles according to package directions. Drain. Stir into spaghetti/meat sauce. Gently stir in cottage cheese, if desired. Pour into greased 9X13 pan. Top with grated mozzarella cheese. Bake at 350 until bubbly, about 40 minutes

SPAGHETTI SAUCE HINTS:

Take one jar of prepared spaghetti or marinara sauce.

ADD- One of the following MEATS:

1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. ground turkey
1 lb. ground sausage
1 lb. Italian sausage, sliced and sautéed
1 lb. shrimp, shelled, deveined and cooked
1 lb. assorted seafood (clams, calamari, scallops, shrimp, etc.)
1 lb. cooked chicken, cut into 1- inch pieces

Serve over one of the following PASTAS:
Cooked according to package
Spaghetti
Linguini
Ziti
Penne
Fettucini
Egg Noodles
Vermicelli
Spiral Macaroni
Bow Tie
Rigatoni

Top with one of the following CHEESES:
Grated Parmesan
Grated Romano
Grated Mozzarella
Grated Asiago
Grated Fontina
4 Cheese Blend


Top one of the following frozen convenience foods with a jar of Ragu!

Calzones
Ravioli
Tortellini
Stuffed Shells
Breaded chicken cutlets
Meatballs

WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH A JAR OF SPAGHETTI SAUCE?

Spaghetti sauce! When I was chatting with a few people this past week trying to find out what they have in their pantry, one of the main items was spaghetti sauce.

There are so many ways to store spaghetti sauce! Whether it's all the fixings for a favorite family recipe or a jar of Ragu or a dry package of spaghetti seasonings with a can of tomato paste or tomato sauce...Spaghetti sauce is a great staple!

Maybe one of the reasons we all seem to have spaghetti sauce this week is because last week several of us went to the cannery and canned over 5600 jars of spaghetti sauce and we were able to purchase some and take it home! (That's my plug for the cannery! Totally fun and amazing to taste the fruits of our labors.)

But can man live by spaghetti alone? Probably...but let's shake it up a bit! Does your family have a special dish that they like made with spaghetti sauce? Please post your recipes in comments! If you have a picture you would like to add, please email it to me!

So.....WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH A JAR OF SPAGHETTI SAUCE?

THE FOOD STORAGE GOURMET

When I think of food storage, my mind goes back to my teen years, when our family was facing a bleak financial time. We lived in a small town in California and my dad was in construction and times were very tough. We lived in tiny two bedroom rental home with no stove or oven and definitely no microwave. All of our meals were made in an electric frying pan. We had our food storage which consisted of a lot of wheat and a product called TVP. If you don't know about TVP, it is actually texturized vegetable protein which has been flavored to taste like meat. Most of our meals for many, many months consisted of something made of wheat and included TVP. When cooking with TVP, you would do anything to mask the fact that it was TVP and not real meat. We had TVP tacos, TVP chili, TVP spaghetti, TVP enchiladas...if it could be made with ground meat, it could be made with TVP.

As I grew older and started my own food storage, I determined that if times ever got tough,(which they have)I would (hopefully) eat what I want to, and not what I have to. I do store the basics...yes...there's even some TVP in the cupboard which I hope I never have to use, but I also store what I like to eat. When times get tough, women need chocolate; so do I store chocolate? You bet! Chocolate cake mix, chocolate chips, chocolate pudding, brownies, cocoa powder, hot chocolate mix--if I get to choose, I'm choosing chocolate!

So to help us think outside the box...this blog is a recipe exchange.

Each week we will list an ingredient that you can have in your food storage. The Post will start with "What can you do with a (ingredient)?" Please post your recipes and comments as we expand our culinary abilities.

In posting recipes, please make sure that it is one that could be made with most ingredients on hand. (freezer, fridge, pantry, garden)