WICKED Thursday....and some Rustic Pasta

I didn't cook last night, instead I went here:

Court and I headed over to Dallas about 6 pm yesterday afternoon.  Of course, we made a pit stop at the little "hole in the wall" taco stand off Inwood.  SUPER YUMMO....sorry no photos but if you are heading that way, it's off Inwood at a gas station and you literally order your food from a walk up window in the wall of the gas station.  If you want a drink you have to go inside and buy it at the gas station.  Court had the Chicken Taco Special and I had the Barbacoa Speacial. Three soft tacos, the best rice and beans, green tomatilla sauce, a red sauce and some onions and a big ole jalapeno for 5 bucks!!!  Sorry, no pics :0(

On the note of Wicked.....VERY different from the book. Play was very comical and the actors are incredibly talented.  It was a fun time.  The boys were home alone....I do not wish to know what happened to my kitchen while we were gone but my house reeked of fried bacon at midnight last night.

However, Tuesday night we had a very rustic pasta dish.  I can't call it a meat sauce because there was really no sauce.  Different....but tasty.  Now that we know what to expect, I think we will like it more the next time.

Cast of characters:

2 Tbsp olive oil

onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 lbs ground beef

Salt, to taste

fresh ground black pepper, to taste

1 tsp thyme

2 cans whole tomatoes

1/4 cup grated parmesan

Big box Rigatoni

Heat your olive oil up in the skillet over med-high heat and dump in the onions and let them cook a few minutes, unti they start to turn translucent.

Now once those are almost translucent add the garlic, and cook for about 1 minute.  Don't let the garlic burn.  Nasteeeeee if you do. 

Stir that all around and then dump in the ground beef and let's mix it up really good and let that meat brown up.

Now you're cooking with gas...in my case, literally  :0)

If your meat has fat when you finish browning it then you will want to drain off most all the fat

Mine however came from Sprout's so there was no fat to drain.

Now that we have our meat all ready to go let's add the salt, pepper and thyme.   Stir to combine then add those tomatoes with the juice.   Sitr really good so it's nice and pretty like this.....

Now let's just slap a lid on that bad jamma and turn the heat down to low and let it cook for about 30 minutes.  You can peek inside the pot and give it a stir a few times while it's cooking too.

This is what it looks like when it's hanging out all alone on the stove...shhhh don't tell it that I snuck a photo!

Isn't it cute when it's sleeping???  huh, oh wait sorry.  I tend to get excited about dinner!

Now then it's time to take the lid off the pot and give it a good stir and let it cook uncovered for another 30 minutes.   When there is about 15 minutes left it's time to get that Rigatoni started. Just cook it following the directions on the box.  Drain the pasta once it's cooked and hopefully you had some yummo  5 cheese Garlic Bread from Schwan's that you were baking up and a salad.  Dinner perfecto!!!

I was hungry...yeah yeah what's new right???.....and I got excited and forgot to take some finished photos but my son saved the day and snapped a few of his plate before he started digging in.   Don't you love our fancy napkins!! haha    Once again folks, it's not about how fancy or how elaborate your meal is, it's the fact that you feed your family and you enjoy dinner together. Buy the best ingredients that your budget allows and then experiment a little.  Sometimes it's good, sometimes not so good but have fun and enjoy your family!!!

Peace, Love and Yummies folks!!!

p.s.  The not so successful chicken strips the other night at dinner....are fabulous cold out of the fridge leftover :0)