Pasta From The Pantry

Sunday we sat down and from our master menu made a "buy nothing meal plan" for the week. Everything from here on out comes from the freezer or the pantry. Each kid chose the meal they wanted to make this week. Monday I did breakfast, kids made their own lunches and snack, dinner was made by KC (11) and dessert was courtesy of Caleb (8), both needed some small supervision from me. Here's Monday's plan:

Monday
Breakfast - cream of wheat, milk
Lunch - fruit & crackers, cheese stick & nuts
Snack - nachos
Dinner - Spaghetti Carbonara & salad (recipe to follow)
Dessert - Cinnamon Struessel muffins (from a mix)

Spaghetti Carbonara is one of our favorite pastas. It's quick and easy. It calls for cream and bacon. What more do I need to say. The eggs in the sauce itself is heated and cooked on the piping hot pasta. The heat from the cooked noodles is enough to sightly cook the eggs and thicken the sauce, but you have to work fast as everything comes together the minute you drain the spaghetti. KC made it mostly herself with a little help from me in crushing the garlic and her dad drained the pasta. So, here goes:

Spaghetti Carbonarra

1 lb. spaghetti
1 cup cream
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 cup grated parmesean
1 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cups precooked bacon crumbs

2 cloves garlic, crushed

drained canned mushrooms and a cup of frozen spinach are optional

Start water boiling, add pasta when you have a rolling boil. Cook according to package directions. DO NOT overcook. While pasta is boiling prepare the cream portion of the sauce. In a medium bowl mix cream, milk, eggs, cheese and salt. Set aside and wait for pasta to finish cooking. Once the pasta has less than 4 minutes left to cook, add bacon crumbs and crushed garlic to a small, hot saute pan. Saute over medium heat (add optional ingredients once the garlic has a nice golden tan). Drain pasta and immediately pour cream sauce over it. Stir quickly and follow with sizzling hot bacon crumbs, etc. Stir until mixed well. Serve steamy and enjoy.