Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Easy Meal

pizza pasta

Budget (stretched) and income (flat) being what they are, along with helping one daughter with college over the past 5 years, and looking towards having daughter #3 begin college in the fall, and daughter #4 following along in 4 years, we almost never go out to eat.  Maybe once a month, but sometimes we go months at a time without eating at a restaurant.  I don't like to spend my "out to eat" money on fast food, so I have a repertoire of easy, no-think, practically-cook-themselves dinners that I rely on for those "I don't know what to fix" or "I don't really feel like fixing anything" nights.  These dinners are also easily re-heated.  With 2 teens, and a husband whose job requires attendance at city government meetings held at night anywhere from 1 to 3 nights a week (like tonight), we seldom have everyone eating dinner at the same time anymore, so whatever I make needs to be able to hold and be reheated.

Tonight I made Pizza Pasta.  I usually make our own pizza, and inevitably I prep more toppings than we need for the pizzas.  Sliced onions and peppers go a l-o-n-g way on a pizza, as do olives, sun dried tomatoes, sausage, or whatever.  This recipe makes use of those leftover toppings (or one can make it instead of pizza if one doesn't want to mess with a pizza crust.

In a large bowl put 2 teaspoons of minced garlic, along with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 1/2 t of Italian seasonings, 1/2 t of balsamic vinegar, some chopped tomatoes or cut up dried tomatoes that have been soaked and drained, and any other prepared (cooked) pizza toppings you want -- either heated or room temp, you don't want them ice cold (onions, peppers, sausage, pepperoni, olives, etc) -- and mix it all up.  Meanwhile cook a pound of short pasta, drain and add the hot pasta to the bowl and mix it all up together.  Mix in 3/4 cup of parmesan cheese and 1/2 cup (or however much to your liking) of mozzarella cheese (the heat of the pasta will melt all of this).  Add pepper if needed.  After I put it in a serving bowl I topped it with some more mozzarella.  Seems like if one had particular eaters, one could have the pizza toppings as add-ins for individual servings rather than all mixed in.

Linking to Country Homemaker Blog Hop

7 comments:

Creatively yours Fi said...

hmmmm looks yummy. Will give it a whirl! Thanks Diana :)

Michelle said...

What a great way to use up left overs. Thank you for joining The Country Homemaker Hop I am co-hosting with htty://mysimplecountryliving.blogspot.com. I am now following you on linky. I would love it if you followed me back. I love meeting new bloggers.

Kimberly said...

I'll have to try that! Looks great!

Manuela@A Cultivated Nest said...

I hear ya on the college tuition! We have two more years to go. I'm always looking for easy recipes. This looks good!

Speaking of pizza, I recently discovered that pita makes a great pizza crust and the size is great for everyone to have their own personal pizza.

momto8 said...

yep...I have 2 recent college graduates (2 in 2 yrs) and 2 in college now...eating out is a rare treat here too! But with recipes like yours I would rather stay home and eat anyway!! I have made variations of this recipie many times and it is always good. thanks!!
I am also your newest linky follower..pls follow back if you can.

Anonymous said...

That looks fabulous! We are a family of 10 so I love easy, yummy, and quick recipes. Pizza is always popular! Thanks for sharing.

RURAL said...

What a great idea for a dinner, it seems we all have those 'cant figure out what to make nights.'

Love to find another word verification free blog, it's a movement.

Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams