Shelf Stable Saturday and a recipe for fried spaghetti, along with ideas for pasta

 

   This week's shelf stable subject is spaghetti, or pasta really I guess. We all know that we can serve a quick pantry meal of spaghetti and spaghetti sauce, but I have had times when we didn't have any spaghetti sauce for some reason and we needed a meal.

Here is a great tutorial with plenty of pictures on how to make fried spaghetti with fresh ingredients. I use the same method, but substitute shelf stable supplies.

Fried Spaghetti

•  
  
• 1 box of spaghetti noodles (you can use leftover pasta instead too)
  
• 1 onion, diced
• About 4 tablespoons of oil
• 1 can of diced tomatoes, drained
  
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2  teaspoon of garlic powder (or whatever seasonings you like, be creative) 
• Shredded cheese if you have it, or powdered parmesean from the canister

1. Cook spaghetti according to package directions, if using leftover pasta, warm in the microwave with a little water to soften up and separate the noodles.
2. Dice the onion and add to a skillet with the oil, cook until all nice and brown.
3. Drain the tomatoes and add to skillet along with the salt and spices. Cook on medium until the tomatoes break down a little bit.
4. When pasta is ready, drain and add to skillet.
5. Stir to mix up all ingredients and add cheese if you want to.
6. Turn up to High and let pasta sit for two minutes to crisp up the bottom
7. Stir and let sit another minute or two to crisp up the bottom again. 

This is one of those recipes that you can easily customize. If you don't have any fresh or frozen onion, skip that step and add dried onion flakes or chopped green onions at the end. Want a more Italian flavor? Add Italian seasoning. Or Cajun, or soy sauce. Seriously, you cannot mess this up. Serve as a side and voila! Dinner is served.

Here are some links to more pasta without spaghetti sauce recipes

 Stir Fried noodles with an Asian flair and only 5 ingredients

Spaghetti Salad 

Lemon spaghetti with spinach, another with like 5 ingredients

Spaghetti with Garlic and Oil, can easily be adapted to pantry only ingredients 

Spaghetti Carbonara, which I LOVE

Ham and Asparagus Spaghetti 

6 ways to use leftover pasta 

 And the ever classic Chicken Tetrazzini Another great shelf stable recipe! It calls for a lot of mushrooms, we only use one can, but mushroom lovers can go crazy! 

 Do you  have a favorite pasta recipe? Feel free to share! 

   I was so glad for my menu plan this last week. My sister, who lives on the opposite side of the state, had to be taken to the emergency room and I had to dash off to her, picking my mom up along the way. I was gone for 3 days, but my husband and kids didn't miss a beat as far as meals were concerned since I had a plan written down and the groceries bought. There was no excuse to run through the drive thru! My husband also knew who had to be where, when, and everything went really smoothly at home while I was with my sister.