Cooking for 1

September 27, 2019

Whoops, I kinda forgot I'd started this blog. Most of my photographic record has been documented on Facebook and Instagram. But yesterday while I was cooking, I randomly put the process onto Instagram Stories and have had three people so far reach out for the recipe. A lot of my cooking is random - I know the basic recipe but sometimes I like to experiment and change things up to see what happens - and that's what happened here. So as long as I was going to write up a recipe/instructions, I figured I'd blog about it and do one of those cool link things in Instagram. lol. 

I know y'all hate the long lead or write up/pictures and random tangents that precede the actual recipe/instructions so I'm gonna keep it short. We'll see when the next post is ;)

Ingredients: 
1 16 oz. package of bacon
2 lbs of ground sausage (I chose spicy)
2 large slicing tomatoes
1 onion
1 package spaghetti
2 jars of Alfredo sauce - I used the
1-2 tbsp. minced garlic - I buy a big jar of the stuff already minced and just glop it onto the pan
spinach - a couple handfuls, it all cooks down so I heaped it on there
mushrooms - optional, not used in this recipe, but I've sauteed them before with the onions

Note:
Mise en place would say to prep everything first and have it all laid out ready to go but to save space and to minimize cleanup I prepped and cooked as I went.
Ignore the steps in the pictures, I posted right to Instagram Stories.

Instructions:
Slice bacon into 1/2" strips. Just plop the whole thing on your cutting board and cut it all at once - so much easier. Fry to preferred crispy level at a medium heat - move it around a couple times to break apart the bacon and cook evenly. Remove and put aside on paper towel. Drain pan of grease (save it for another cooking adventure, if you'd like), but don't wash it.

Once bacon is in the pan, dice onion. Don't forget to stir the bacon!


Cook sausage in same pan as the bacon, also at a medium heat. Flatten and flip over once there's a crust on the one side and do the same for the other side. Break up into smaller pieces. Don't need to let cook through since it'll cook in the sauce. Put aside. Drain most of the grease but leave some for the next step.


2. Dice tomatoes in med to large chunks. Did you forget the sausage? Remove as much of the seed and seed goop as you can, you don't have to, but it helps remove some of the extra moisture.

3. Saute garlic and onion in grease at a medium-high heat. Start with garlic and add onions once garlic has browned a little bit. Saute until onions are soft.



3b. Put a pot of salted water on to boil. Keep the onions and garlic moving so they don't stick to the pan - add a little more sausage grease as needed. Add package of spaghetti once the water is boiling.


4. Add tomatoes to the garlic and onions and saute for a minute or so and then add the spinach in a heaping amount and stir it in until it reduces in size

4b. Cook pasta to desired firmness, drain water but keep about 2-4 cups worth.




5. Add Alfredo sauce to pot and use some of the pasta water to get what you can't scrape out of the jar - careful, it's hot!


Stir it all together and add the meats. Once the sauce starts to bubble turn down to the lowest heat setting.

6. Stir every so often until sauce has thickened or some of the excess water has steamed out.

7. Add to pasta.

ENJOY! -
(toast some bread with the bacon or sausage grease for an added touch)