Lazy Saturday on the Home Front

Saturday was one of those days where I unintentionally fell asleep and took a nice long nap.  By the time I woke, my husband was ready for some dinner.  He offered to run out and pick something up and I admit that as I stretched and shook off my nap, it sounded like a pretty good idea.  I even agreed to it.  I was not happy with myself for agreeing to it but the thought of being lazy sounded pretty good right about then. 

About ten minutes later, I changed my mind.  I found myself fully awake with sufficient energy to step into the kitchen and I knew exactly the recipe I was going to cook:  Home Front Macaroni.  I knew it had to be good because in the early days of my parents’ marriage, my mother wrote a note in her 1956 Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook that said, “Good!  Kent Likes!!”  If it was something that my dad liked, that is enough endorsement for me.

Last week, when I was making up my menu and shopping list for this week, I very nearly left off the green pepper called for in Home Front Macaroni.  I have never been a big fan of green peppers so when a recipe calls for it, I generally just skip it.  I do not know if it was the fact that I was already omitting the celery (it’s evil – don’t argue with me) from the recipe or if I had been possessed by Our Lady of Puzza, the patron saint of odoriferous green vegetables, but something made me pick up a green pepper to include in the recipe. 

Home Front Macaroni was incredibly easy to make.  I forgot to buy macaroni so I just used the appropriate amount of what I had on hand – a mixture of rigatoni and angel hair pasta.  Instead of using canned tomatoes, I used about a pound of chopped, fresh, organic tomatoes.  I minced the green pepper as directed and added two minced cloves of garlic (because everything in the world can be made better with garlic).  The entire mixture of meat and vegetables simmered for 45 minutes, giving it plenty of time for the flavors to develop and combine.  When it was done, it was TO DIE FOR!  My husband and I had generous portions and we had plenty left over for lunches through the week.

Home Front Macaroni

Makes 6 – 8 servings

Ingredients

·           1 tbsp butter or other cooking fat

·           1 large onion, diced

·           ½ lb ground beef or pork sausage (I used organic, grass-fed beef)

·           2 ½ cups cooked tomatoes (no. 2 can – this is equal to a 20-oz can today)

·           1 cup diced celery

·           ¾ cup minced green pepper

·           1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

·           2 tsp salt (I only used one teaspoon of sea salt)

·           ½ tsp pepper

·           8-oz macaroni (dry weight) cooked

Directions

1.     Sauté onion in cooking fat until it just starts to turn translucent.

2.     Add ground beef and cook until browned.

3.     Add tomatoes, celery, green pepper, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4.     Cook 8-ounces of macaroni according to package instructions.

5.     Once macaroni is cooked and drained, add to beef mixture and stir to combine.

6.     Serve warm.

Comment below with the foods that are on your “do not eat” list!