Author: Pretty Good Spaghetti & Leftovers (Vegan | Humor)🍝

On Sundays, I’ve been making big meals lately. Big meals equals leftovers which means lunch is done for tomorrow with extra servings to spare. Save money, eat great, write more. Ding, a ling ring…We have a winner. 🏆

Spaghetti for a crowd, here we go. A garlic bread recipe is thrown in at the end as a bonus. You are welcome. 🥖

Make your own spaghetti sauces, people. Garlic bread, too. It’s not expensive and it’s simple. Stop buying premade sauces that are pumped with salt and frozen garlic bread with ingredients you don’t have a hope of trying to pronounce. Your grandchildren will thank you.

Let’s begin.

The Cupboard List

• 2lbs thin spaghetti noodles
• 1 lovely yellow squash
• 1 zucchini
• A large handful of beautiful whole mushrooms 🍄
• 1 onion, again from the Mines of Moria
• A few garlic cloves from your vampire clan defense kit🦇
• 2 cans of tomato sauce (use low/no sodium addedwith canned goods if you’re able)🍅🍅
• 1 can of tomato paste🍅
• Sea salt, so fine
• Freshly ground black pepper, darker than the ending of The Woman in Black novel
• EVOO
• A smidgen of vegan butter
• The three Italian sisters: oregano, parsley and basil
• Sugar (optional)
• Garlic powder (optional)

Now What? Now…we cook! 👩‍🍳

1. Boil your water and add the noodles to cook. While this is happening, coat your pan and heat it up. Add the minced garlic and sliced onions until Casper approves of the onions’ translucent coloring.
2. Add your mushrooms for a few minutes to let the moisture cook out. After you give that a chance, you’ll be adding your quartered zucchini and yellow squash. Top it with your pot lid you used to boil your water if you want it to cook faster.
3. Drain the liquid your mushrooms produced so it doesn’t make your sauce watery. Add in some vegan butter to make the squashes sing. Don’t forget to add sea salt and pepper as you go.
4. Add in the two cans of tomato sauce and the can of tomato paste. Unlike the paste in kindergarten, you can eat this stuff. It’ll thicken up your sauce so you can avoid ruining the dining room table cloth again. Misfortune, indeed…
5. Remember the three Italian sisters? Yep, it’s their time. Go basil, go parsley and go oregano. Mix, season, taste. If it’s not garlicky enough for you, add in some garlic powder. Add a smidgen of sugar here if desired. It breaks up the tomato-y taste of the sauce and lessens the acidity.
6. Your noodles should be cooked and drained by now. Add a little EVOO and parsley to them and mix. Add in your finished pasta sauce and let all the flavors mix and mingle like at a Christmas party with ol’ Chris Kringle. Because it’s done and it’s time to eat! 😁

You can serve this with vegan parmesan or regular. The saint likes it with colby cheese. A simple tossed salad or red wine would also be a fine selection, my merry reader. 🍷🍾🥗

Fresh bread or freshly made garlic bread is good, too. If you want good garlic bread, get a crusty loaf of French bread, cut it up into around inch and a half slices, smear with vegan butter and sprinkle with garlic powder and parsley. Drizzle with EVOO.  Bake for about 10 minutes around 350F. Voila. Beauty is served.

Now that you’re fueled, get back to writing Chapter 34. That fantasy odyssey isn’t going to finish itself, you now? Look at yourself in the mirror and call yourself beautiful.

Crack on. And remember to take care of yourself, Arcians. No one wants to miss pasta night. 🍝🥖