Leftover spaghetti with mushrooms and meat sauce

One of the "fun" things about moving is cleaning out your kitchen cabinets, identifying items to throw away, and figuring out what to use up.

Sometimes it's easy to pare "leftover" items together... for example, pasta and tomato sauce... and sometimes it's more challenging, such as can of cream of mushroom soup and rice paper wraps...

Luckily, I was able to cobble something together this past weekend: Leftover spaghetti with mushrooms and meat sauce

Here's how I made it:

Start with sauteeing one sliced onion in a large skillet with olive oil:

Then start boiling your pasta of choice according to the package directions...

Once onions are starting to slightly brown, add garlic, stir and cook for one minute more, then add ground meat of choice (I used ground chicken since it was what I had in my freezer!).  Cook through.

Once meat has browned slightly, add canned mushrooms, and mix together...

...then, add pasta sauce (I used leftover jarred marinara sauce plus canned tomato sauce, which was all I had in my kitchen cabinet... then I added garlic powder, garlic salt, and Italian seasoning for flavoring...).  Toss the cooked (and drained!) pasta into the meat sauce, stir to coat, and then, plate!!!

... if desired, add grated parmesan cheese!

Everyone loves a tasty pasta dish with meat... and this definitely hit what I was craving.  A filling, homey meal that used up some of the "leftover" straggler items in my kitchen cabinet!! Plus, as a planner, I usually cook from a recipe rather than throwing things together... so I feel accomplished, even if it is only a basic meat sauce and pasta combo!! :)

Here's my recipe!

Pasta with mushroom and meat sauce
Recipe courtesy of Kimmy (that's me!)

Serves 4

Ingredients:
One medium onion, halved and sliced into 1/4" thick slices
1-3 garlic cloves, minced
Olive oil
1 lb Reduced/low fat ground meat of choice
1 can of mushrooms
4 oz pasta of choice
Canned tomato/marinara sauce (low sodium)
Garlic powder, garlic salt and/or Italian Seasoning to taste
Salt, pepper to taste
Grated parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions:
1. Sautee one sliced onion in a large skillet with olive oil
2. Meanwhile, cook your pasta of choice according to the package directions...
3. Once onions are starting to slightly brown, add garlic to the large skillet, cook for one minute, then add ground meat of choice (I used ground chicken)
4. Once meat has cooked through and browned slightly, add canned mushrooms, stirring to mix
5. Add pasta sauce and/or canned tomato sauce
6. Add garlic powder, garlic salt, and Italian seasoning to taste
7. Stir to mix well
8. Add pasta and stir to combine.
9. Plate, topping with parmesan cheese if desired, and ENJOY!!!