Upscale Spaghetti

I grocery shop monthly, in case you didn't know that about me already. Yes, I do little dairy/produce filler trips occasionally, but, for the most part, I make one big trip a month.

This last month, those last few days found me pretty low on some things. We had no meat. Our cheese supply was low. I was down to the dregs of many things. I still wanted to set a decent plate in front of my husband. (And in front of me and my kids too!)

Spaghetti is such an easy, typical "Plan B" or "fall-back" plan meal. Almost everyone has the stuff on hand to mix up a pot of spaghetti.

How did I choose to make it a little special?

Well, for starter's I dug out the four lonely sticks of string cheese rolling around the back of my deli drawer and baked up a half batch of Kate's Stuffed Bread Sticks. They didn't take long and, already, my meal was a lot more special than it would have been with plain old garlic toast tossed on the plate. The leftover half-bag of frozen broccoli was steamed up and topped with a sprinkle of black pepper and parmesan. The spaghetti itself got a touch of extra sauce, a dollop of ricotta (there was really only enough left for a couple dollops!), and a sprinkling of parsley.

Voila.

A meal fit for kings?

No.

Still, it felt great to be able to put a plate on the table that I could be proud of without having to run out and spend money we hadn't budgeted.

How do you making a simple meal special while staying in budget? Do you find you enjoy how the process forces you to be a bit creative?

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This post is linked to Tasty Tuesday, hosted at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.