November and December Challenge: Dec 8 - 15

How many of you went shopping on "black" Friday? Cyber Monday? Today?

How many of you went to make dinner from your normal pantry and realized you were missing something? Tomato paste? a spice? pasta? rice?

The other day I went to make dinner and the recipe called for tomato paste. This is not an item I usually have in stock; why? Because I do not like the taste of tomato paste. What did I do? I actually had a bunch of tomatoes from my garden ripening on my kitchen table (yes still, because we moved the tomato plants to the garage when it got cold out so I wouldn't lose all that fruit). So I took some of those and I washed them, took out that weird core where they hook to the plant, put them through a quick blender, and used those instead. Dinner was saved, and delicious. What would I have done had I not had those tomatoes? I would have used tomato sauce or canned diced tomatoes (put through blender).  My kids do not like chunks of cooked tomatoes, so I still have to blend those. BUT, they are learning to handle cooked onions, carrots and celery.

So this week is more of the same, but a little change. Remember the point of this challenge is to build up your food storage/larder/pantry. The point is so you have something to eat in a pinch. That pinch of low funds is not fun.

#38: Sliced Peaches
#39: Canned Chicken
#40: Campbell's chicken noodle soup (add water)
#41: Dinty Moore Stew (or which ever kind you prefer)
#42: Chili
#43: Can of Pears or Fruit cocktail
#44: Tomato Soup (add water)
#45: Baked potato soup (ready-to-eat)

One of the cans I stocked up on last week was Snow's Minced Clams in the yellow can at the local grocery. The price was so cheap I bought 10 of them. Tonight I needed a fast dinner as the teens were headed out to their weekly meetings.

What did I make with these lovely little can's of yum? Clam spaghetti of course. This is a family favorite. It's fast, easy, and not expensive.

CLAM SPAGHETTI

2 - 6.5 oz cans minced clams in clam juice
1/2 tsp salt
4 to 6 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup olive oil
2 TBS parsley
1 pound spaghetti, linguini, angel hair or fettuccine  OR GF ramen noodles or bean threads

Cook pasta according to package directions. While waiting for the pasta, make the sauce.

In sauce pan put butter, oil and garlic. Let gently cook on low to med low heat until it starts to bubble and the fragrance of garlic is fantastic. Drain only ONE can of clams and put into sauce pan. Pour second can of clams with juice into sauce pan. Add salt and parsely. Bring to a gentle simmer and keep hot.
When pasta is done cooking, drain. Return to cooking pan. Pour all of the sauce over the pasta. Stir well with tongs or whatever you prefer to use.

Sometimes we garnish with finely shredded parmesan cheese. But not tonight.
We served this with a salad. So yummy and good comfort food.