| Thursday, May 19, 2005 |
| Italian Noodle Bake - times two |
Tonight we had Italian Noodle Bake, italian bread, & caesar salad. It was delish! I actually made two casseroles. One to eat tonight, and one to freeze for later. Not only did I save time on a future meal, but I save gas (stove is natural gas) by cooking two meals in one pot and baking both in the oven at the same time. And I probably will save us some future meal of fast food because we are in a hurry or rarer still, I don't feel like cooking. The sausage was actually sausage patties that we had bought on sale for $1.99/lb but they turned out to be very gristly. So I chopped them up and removed as much of the gristle as I could (and did pretty good) and used half of it (1lb total) for these casseroles and froze the rest for another meal. So I actually made 2 1/2 meals!
also threw in some ricotta cheese (to OD's dismay) that I had experimented freezing. You CAN freeze ricotta cheese! It tastes & smells fine, although the texture is a bit odd. I had bought a big 32 oz container of ricotta (for $2.00) and only ended up using half of it, I figured if it's going go to waste, I may as well try freezing it first. It worked! The green pepper was a score as well. I snagged them from the regular grocery store's (not the commissary) reduced produce. I got 5 large green peppers for $1.50 (so 30c each) brought them home & immediately chopped some, sliced some, and froze them all for future meals. I have also found red, orange, yellow, and purple peppers the same way! They are all in my freezer.
Italian Noodle Bake (times 2)
2 (16oz) wide egg noodles - 69c each = $1.38
1 (26oz) can Hunts Spaghetti sauce - 79c
1/2 lb italian sausage - 99c
16oz leftover, frozen ricotta (1.00)
1/2 c frozen chopped green pepper (15cents, about 1/2 of a green pepper)
Spices - red pepper flakes, oregano, garlic, salt, & pepper (negligble cost)
1/2 C mozzerella cheese (33cents - a 2C pkg is $1.30 at the commissary)
Serving per casserole: 8
Total cost of food:
$2.32 per casserole
Cost per serving:
29c/serving
I also added a caesar salad. Romaine hearts were on sale for $1.99/3. Half of a package will feed us for one meal. Another $1 added to our meal cost. Plus a loaf of store baked italian bread, from the reduced bakery section. One loaf 70c, we used half a loaf. Added 35c to our meal cost.
Total meal cost:
$3.67/meal
Cost per serving:
46 cents per serving |
posted by Heather @ 5:39 PM  |
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| 2 Comments: |
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Silly question but can you post a "play by play" on how to make this? I'm very interested. I am so excited you're doing this I have been looking for something like this (your blog) for awhile. It gets expensive to grocery shop and we often eat out because of things being hectic. If I could freeze a few meals then that would solve a lot of problems!
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Play by play:
Boil the noodles (your choice, penne, ziti, macaroni elbows, rigatoni).
While the noodles are boiling, brown the sausage w/ some onion & pepper (diced) & spices. I use Italian seasoning, garlic powder (NOT garlic salt), red pepper flakes. Drain. Add the spaghetti sauce & reheat.
When noodles are done (not too soft, kind of firmer than you would usually make them because they are going to be cooked a little bit more in the oven), drain them, return them to the pan & pour the sauce/sausage mixture over the noodles. Stir.
Add the ricotta cheese & stir.
Pour into a glass casserole dish. Top with a cup or so of mozzarella cheese. Cover with foil & bake for 15-20 mins on 350*
Voila!
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Silly question but can you post a "play by play" on how to make this? I'm very interested. I am so excited you're doing this I have been looking for something like this (your blog) for awhile. It gets expensive to grocery shop and we often eat out because of things being hectic. If I could freeze a few meals then that would solve a lot of problems!