Penne Rigota with Sausage and Marinara Sauce

Just in case you haven't noticed, I've been AWOL around here lately. I've been really busy with a new ministry position, I've had computer and internet issues, it;'s hard to cook for just one or two people, and besides, it's just been too hot to cook lately, anyway. They are, alas, just excuses. I sure manage to wrangle up something to eat, I just haven't done anything inspired lately.

So, I thought I'd share one of those quick, I'm the only one home for dinner, it's too hot to turn on the oven, I don't have much in the house anyway, but I gotta have something to eat, semi-homemade kind of meals.

Step one, put some pasta on to cook. Any kind will do. I used penne rigata.

Step two, find some meat of some kind, hopefully one that won't take that long to cook. I chose sausage, because it was what I had on hand and thawed. Slice it up and sort of fry it out or (my first choice) cover it with a little water and par-boil for a couple of minutes. It heats everything up and cooks out the excess grease. Drain the excess water and/or grease.

Step three. Pour on a jar of sauce. In this case, spaghetti sauce, and bring to a simmer. Cover and let cook for a few minutes. Add additional seasoning to taste.

Drain the pasta, pour on the sauce, add some cheese, and voila! Pasta supper for one, with enough leftovers to eat tomorrow.

Variations:

I love to use frozen chicken fajita strips with Alfredo sauce to make a quick chicken Alfredo.

This works with pretty much any kind of pasta, including leftover!

Do you have a basic semi-homemade go-to meal for those "I don't wanta cook but I'm hungry" times?

Until next time, good (semi-) cooking, and good eating!