Sunday #16: Yaaaawn.

Sunday #16 was a very uninspired meal.

I didn't even want to, really. Simon was off tra-la-la-ing at Great Wolf Lodge with a friend, so that just left me and Mark, and Max.

Max was a pretty good sport about missing out on lodged wolfy greatness. Pretty good, in that he didn't collapse into a pile of the quivering boo-hoos.

We took him to Dairy Queen. It was 3pm when we left.

So... dinner? Meh. Who needs it!

Well, I guess I did, if I wanted something to write about.

I figured I'd at least crank something out, and then have it for lunch the rest of the week.
I decided on this: Fusilli Spinach Ricotta

or... something like it. The recipe I used (which I can't find now, but the link looks pretty close) called for arugula and spinach. I decided on that because I'd gotten a giant bunch of arugula in my Full Circle box, and it had been wilting away in the fridge for over a week. I wasn't that excited about it, but was making a real effort to use up all  of my Full Circle Box since I'd let too much of the previous box wilt away into a slime of vegetation sorrow.

To start, I browned onions and garlic in a skillet.

The I piled on something like a pound and a half of chopped spinach and arugula.

Mmmm. Ruffage.

While that was wilting (and while the noodles were boiling) I mixed the ricotta and 1% milk (it called for 1/2&1/2, but milk was what I had) together along with salt, pepper. I skipped the nutmeg, but added in italian seasonings.

Once that was all mixed up, and once the ruffage up there was all wilted down I dumped in the dairy mixture.

And it was as good as it looks

What do you mean "not very"?

That get's brought to a long simmer, then you slap in a pat of butter (for some reason) mix it all togehter, and dump all of that into the noodles. If you time things right, the noodles should still be screaming hot when that happens.










And then you throw in a handful of shredded parmesan.

Stir stir stir and tah-dah!

I think the little spinach splatters orbiting the edge of the plate
really add something to the presentation.

I tossed some pork chops in the skillet and then, after having a little bit each, we packaged everything up into a couple of lunches for the next week. Lunches for me. Hooray.

And then the rest, another 4-6 servings worth, went into a tupperware and into the fridge.

It sat there until later in the week when Mark reserved it for dinner. The noodles were all stuck together but he fixed that by mixing in a jar of alfredo sauce.

So there it was, Thursday night.  My former veggiefied Sunday meal of blandness was almost a week old, tried out, and about half as good as it was Sunday night - and that wasn't so super good to begin with.

Then Mark came along and with the power of pre-processed delicious cheesefat, he made it awesome. Way to go, Mark.

Oh - what was Max eating on Sunday night while Mark and I topped off Dairy Queen with vegetable noodle pile?

Bread square, porkchop, and milk.

Oh yeah, and ketchup.

Haha! Simon totally missed out!