Okay, friend. I promised you another “make it from memory” easy dish. This is basic, feed the family, weeknight, life-in-a-pandemic, use-what-you-have cooking. No fancy ingredients. Easy steps.

Hopefully, your family liked the last one – one of our family’s standbys – an easy-peasy Burrito Bowl recipe. This is another one-pot, truly easy meal – using Italian sausage or ground beef or turkey – whatever is in your freezer. SO EASY. You may very well already have all the ingredients in your freezer, cupboard or pantry!

And please, share your own “made from memory” recipes in the comments below, and share a bit of inspiration with us.

So, here we go. 8 steps (including cleaning out your veggie drawer), 7 ingredients, 30 minutes, and enough leftovers for a great lunch the next day. Winner, winner, yummy dinner.

One-Pot Saucy Italian Noodles

Serves 4 with generous leftovers for lunch.

1. Inspect your veggie drawer for veggies that need to be used – especially things like mushrooms, zucchini, bell peppers or spinach.
2. In a large dutch oven pot, over medium-high heat, brown 1 ½ lbs of protein of your choice – ground beef, turkey or Italian sausage (we love Italian sausage, squeezed out of its casing). If there is a lot of fat, drain some off, but leave some behind to help sautee the veggies.
3. While the meat cooks, dice one onion, along with the veggies you discovered – slice mushrooms, dice zucchini and peppers, and add to the pot as you go. Be generous with the veggies (especially if you’re adding spinach) – they reduce down quite a bit, and add huge nutritional value!
4. Add 1 – 2 cloves of garlic to this mixture, and stir in, letting it cook for a minute or two.
5. Stir a 650ml jar of pasta sauce into the meat and veggie mixture.
6. Add ½ – 1 cup of dry noodles – macaroni or penne work best (we always use gluten-free.) If your pot is packed with veggies, feel free to use the lesser amount of noodles. If your family is hungry, use the greater amount, or a little bit more. Just add more liquid in step 7.
7. Add water to the pasta sauce jar about 2/3 of the way, put the lid on, and shake it up to clean out the jar and get all that saucy goodness. Add this to the pot, making sure the noodles are covered with liquid. If they aren’t quite covered, add a little more water.
8. Simmer covered on medium-low heat for approximately 20 minutes, or until the noodles are softened and liquid is absorbed. Make sure to stir intermittently, so that the food doesn’t stick to the bottom.

Serve with parmesan cheese on top, and if you found a bit of lettuce and tomatoes while the noodles were cooking, make a salad!

Click here to download the recipe!

Bonus recipe – for those feeding hungry teenagers:

Mama T’s Garlic Toast

Soften ½ cup of butter, and add 4 cloves of minced garlic, 1/4 tsp salt, mashing it well. Let it rest for a half-hour to let the flavours blend.

Spread on hamburger buns, sliced French bread – whatever you’ve got – and place on a cookie sheet, under the broiler, on a low setting. When the top is bubbly and browned, your garlic toast is done. If you want to be fancy-ish add a little dried parsley and some parmesan cheese.

Leftover butter can be refrigerated for a few weeks if you have any!