Dinner in a Pinch

It's 5:45 pm.

I haven't given a single thought to putting dinner on the table.

Here's dinner in a pinch and it's gonna work out nicely.

Pasta is the go-to dinner. So let's start with spaghetti. Boil it up in some salted water.

And don't break the pasta!

Lidia wouldn't approve.

I'm sure you're all having a hard time following so far.

Then, of course, we need some sauce. I'm going to boost this up a bit. Our base will just be a simple marinara.

I had some mushrooms leftover from last night's calzone.

I chopped them up and threw them in.

I added a can of Italian-style stewed tomatoes,

coarsely chopped, just for some texture and a little extra flavor.

Uh oh, here's another one of those blasted purees. A broccoli one at that. Stop wrinkling your nose. I forgot to pull it out of the freezer, so here it is thawing in some hot water.

Add that in.Now I throw a few meatballs into the sauce and

simmer it for however long it takes me to fix the rest of this pinchy meal.

Remember the dutch oven bread? Now's a great time to use it. Slice up a few pieces.

Butter them.

Sprinkle on some garlic powder. If I had more time,

I'd have cooked up a little chopped garlic in butter

and spread that on the bread.

But the tribe is getting restless, and frankly,

I'm a little scared of impending anarchy.

So garlic powder it is.

Then I sprinkle on some grated parmesan and romano.

They call this cheese "lively" blend. I love that. It's lively.

I'm going to say that from now on when I want to describe something.

I put the bread on a cookie sheet, then throw it under the broiler for a bit.

Oh look how lively that bread looks! SIGH. Stop it.

Something's missing.

A little color on the plate.

These Green Giant vegetable packs are dinner's best kept secret.

They come in all kinds of varieties and, surprisingly,

they don't have a lot of extra muck added.

Just a touch of butter and salt and they are magically tasty! You can microwave them in the steamer bag that is included. Perfect. Four minutes to dinner.

Plate it all up and here's dinner.

So simple. And it's a dinner that I'm not ashamed of. Awww...look at our quiet, romantic dinner.

Oh who am I kidding? Let's keep it real. This is what dinner really looks like,

complete with an equestrian guest. (I wouldn't have it any other way). Isn't it lively?