Last Minute Dinner

Yesterday at 5:15 p.m. I hadn't started... or even thought about.... dinner. I open my refrigerator and saw a jar of my favorite Newman's Own spaghetti sauce that I had used about 1/3 of for another recipe, and knew it needed to be used up soon.

So, I put it in a sauce pan to warm up, put some water on to boil, and grabbed a box of bowtie pasta from the pantry. Since there wasn't enough sauce to satisfactorily cover all of the pasta, I looked in the fridge again for inspiration, and saw a long-lost half-full bottle of whipping cream that had just passed it's expiration date. I took a whiff and decided it was safe. I added it to the sauce on the stove, and got just the right amount of liquid. I figured the cream had diluted the sauce quite a bit, so I dumped in a little italian seasoning.

Things were looking good, but I knew that Jay would balk at a main dish with no meat. So, I scrounged in my freezer and found the remains of a once-full bag of pre-cooked shrimp hiding in the back. I threw it in with the pasta for the last few minutes to defrost and warm it. I drain the pasta and shrimp and added the sauce. It looked like vomit. So, I went back to the freezer and grabbed a bag of frozen peas and threw it in. Now it looked colorful and presentable, and actually quite nice, especially with a hearty sprinkle of freshly grated parmesan.

I happened to have a bag of pre-washed lettuce, some leftover ceasar dressing, and some croutons, so I made a quick ceasar salad. I looked at the food on the plates and was quite impressed with it. We sat down to eat at 5:45. Now for the moment of truth.

Dinner was a hit.... the kids cleaned their plates without a word. Jay liked it too... even though, as usual, he doused it with "Frank's Hot" for some kick. Oh well.