2010 March — Cooking During Stolen Moments

One day closer to our monthly shopping trip and we dined on a wonderful pantry-based dinner. This dish is a variation of one of our all-time favorites – Cheesy Pasta Casserole. I originally intended to do a standard baked mostacolli, but them I realized I was out of ricotta and running low on mozzarella. So I decided to improvise and combine the cheesy pasta casserole ingredients with a basic mostacolli method.

It turned out great. The texture was rich and creamy with the ground beef providing a nice counter balance. And the whole thing was just full of cheesy, saucy flavor. I think this might become my preferred method for this dish, replacing both regulars.

Creamy Baked Mostacolli

1/2 lb. mostacolli/penne noodles
4 oz. cream cheese
1/2 c. sour cream
2 15 oz. cans tomato sauce
1/2 – 1 lb. ground beef, cooked
2 t. Italian seasoning
1 t. sugar
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. black pepper
1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

1. Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain, return to pot and add cream cheese and sour cream. Stir until cream cheese is melted. Add tomato sauce, ground beef, seasonings and 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella. Stir to combine and transfer to a casserole dish.

2. Cover pasta mixture with remaining shredded cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until bubbly and cheese is melted.

We started our day with either homemade waffles from the freezer or leftover banana bread. For lunch, the two oldest picked up lunch at school and the rest of ate leftovers and oranges.

I know I said I’d start getting into our grocery budget today, but…well, sometimes life happens and I just don’t have the time today. I will say that our budget is $450 per month for the 6 of us, although I try to come in lower than that most months. This is quite a large increase from our budget just over 6 months ago, so I’ll explain why we had to up it tomorrow.

Until then, I’d love to know how you decide on a grocery budget and what, if anything, means you need to lower or increase your budget.

Every month at the beginning of the month, we do the majority of our grocery shopping. Lately we have been splitting this big trip between Sam’s Club and our local Kroger. It’s really been a perfect system for us. We fill in throughout the month with fresh produce and dairy items.

However, one of the downfalls of this system is that we actually shop for the month. That means at the end of the month, our supplies start dwindling. We have been working on building up a surplus, but it’s a little hard since we don’t have much extra space in our current home.

This also means that by the beginning of the next month, our grocery trip becomes a necessity. Our grocery money is earmarked from a certain check each month and as soon as that money comes in, we’re all set. But since my husband and I both run our own businesses, those checks don’t always come in with the regular consistency of a weekly paycheck.

So this month, we will be doing our major shopping on Friday the 5th. Fortunately, February was a short month and we are way ahead of the game right now. In fact, we’re starting the month with a 6 pound bag of frozen chicken breasts, some bags of frozen, browned ground beef, lots of pasta and plenty of tomato sauce, frozen homemade waffles and frozen veggies.

The snack department is a little short though. Surprisingly, 4 kids tend to need food more often than just at meal times. As a constant snacker myself, I guess I get where they are coming from.

So when the pantry is almost bare, I like to pull out one of my favorite tricks. I whip up a fun snack using whatever I have available. It’s not the healthiest thing, but it serves it purpose. Plus, it’s just really good!

Empty Pantry Candy

Peanut butter
Chocolate chips
Pretzels
Marshmallows
Raisins

1. Melt some peanut butter with some chocolate chips in a 1:2 ratio, depending on how much you have. Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine, just until everything is covered. Don’t add too many extra ingredients or you’ll run out of “sauce” for covering it all. Spread onto a greased cookie sheet and refrigerate until firm. Cut into bars.

As you can see, there are no measurements here. Just use what you have in any combination that works for you.

I’ve omitted the peanut butter, subbed chocolate chips for butterscotch chips, used oats instead of pretzels, used just pretzels… Really, the possibilities are endless. It turns out a little different each time, but it’s always good. And it’s a great way to stretch what we have on hand.

Tomorrow, I’ll start getting into our grocery budget and how I prepare for the big shopping trip.