Women at work and their tips, challenges, advice, complaints, and experiences

Do you ever feel like you do all of your shopping on the frozen food aisle of the grocery store?  I used to have a habit of buying all the microwaveable meals I could afford.  I shopped the sales like the Queen of Sheba, thinking I was saving lots because the items were on sale.  What I didn't think about was how healthy they were - or weren't; I also didn't realize at the time how much I could save by just cooking a few big batches of things a few times a month. 

If you're hooked on "nuke-able" side dishes or entrees like I was, give this recipe a shot.  I made it this week as dinner (for adults and one child) and still had plenty to put aside in the freezer for another night's meal.  If you have a larger family or prefer your pasta as a side dish, you'll probably still get two to four night's sides out of this. 

I'm going to tell you exactly how I cooked this - right down to the multitasking that let me handle other things and catch a few minutes of "me" time!

What You Need:

• 1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce
• 1 to 1.5 lbs of ground beef (ground turkey would work too)
• 1 - 15-17 oz package of pasta (I used a bag of Garofalo's organic casarecce pasta - we got a 6-pack of pastas at Costco and they are SO handy!)
• A nice big spaghetti pot

What to Do:

• Fill spaghetti pot with enough hot water to cook pasta.  Set to boil.
• Brown ground beef in a microwave-safe bowl in the micro; drain off grease and return to bowl.  (Tip #1 - I use my microwave to brown meats as it has a special "cook" setting for such tasks and saves me time, both in scrubbing a greasy skillet and in standing over the meat.  Even if yours doesn't have a setting like this, you can still experiment with the regular cook/time functions!  Tip #2 - Lay two paper towels over the sink drain before you drain your meat in a strainer.  This will trap the grease and keep it from going down the sink pipes, which plugs sink pipes and sewer/septic pipes over time.  Just carefully pick up the paper towels and toss 'em in the trash.  CA residents have probably already seen public announcements about this issue!  Tip #3 - rinse your strainer really well and re-use it in a few minutes for the pasta.)
• Once water is boiling, pour in your pasta.  Stir occassionally until pasta is fully cooked.  When finished, drain pasta in strainer. 
• While pasta drains, carefully pour the pasta sauce into the spaghetti pot.  (Watch out for splashes - I've had this come back at me due to the heat of the pot!)
• Pour browned meat into pot over sauce.
• Return pasta to pot; stir well.  Place back on burner for 3-5 minutes, stirring occassionally, to heat sauce and combine flavors.

Now, as for the multi-tasking part: I'm the sort that "has to" be by the pot while it boils - I worry that it will boil over if I'm not in the room for more than a minute or so.  So when I hit the pantry to get my sauce and pasta, I also grabbed a magazine from another room.  (An issue of Working Mother that I hadn't gotten to read yet, actually!)  While the water was boiling and the meat was cooking, I unloaded the dishwasher, opened the pasta package and sauce jar, set the table, and played with my son, who was sitting in his high chair nearby.  He fell asleep as I was putting the pasta in the water, so I drained the meat and then stood in the kitchen and read part of my magazine! 

As for the leftovers - there were plenty.  When we were done with dinner I spooned them into a big container and popped 'em in the freezer.  If you're making this for a larger family but still want to stretch it to leftovers (trust me, that's a lot of pasta!), serve the pasta as a side along with baked chicken and a nice big salad or some veggies.  You can also dish the leftovers into smaller portion-size containers.  Grab one to take to the office and reheat for lunch; use them as entrees on the run between extracurricular activities or when everyone wants something different for dinner.

As for that magazine - one of the headlines was what inspired me to share this with you Workerettes.  The title?  "Eat One, Freeze One"!