I Shut Em Down

Quickest lunch in history.  I was jonesing for a giant plate of linguini with lots of butter and meat sauce.  I needed it like you need that first cup of coffee in the morning.  It was gonna make me 'right'.  Nothing does it like pasta.  Pasta says, there, there darling.  There, there.  I need my pasta.

But I'm not eating white flour right now and whole grain wheat pasta or rice noodle schmoodle were not cutting it lately.  It's not the same, no matter what.  Sometimes I can placate the foodies inside of me but at certain times of the month it gets dire.  We needed the golden, silky, buttery loving. No substitutions.  A riot was forming in my head so I had to act fast.

I had to shut it down.  I had two things in the house, black beans and fire-roasted tomatoes.  I only slightly drained the beans and poured both cans in the pan with lots of chili, garlic, onion powder and lime.  I used Mexican oregano for the fragrant quality. It became a tangy, spicy soup that was filling and way better than I expected.

I know that my spaghetti cravings are both psychological and physical.  When I was alone as a kid, which was a lot or feeling any kind of sad, I'd use spaghetti like a sedative.  It continued all through my adult life.  It was the warm blanket I could bring with me anywhere I lived. 

But the beans worked too.  Instead of saying, 'lie down dear and sleep it off, they were more like 'hey, why don't we go do something after we get something in our belly!'

That's the One for Me

Days before grocery shopping the food remaining to work with is a bit of a mish-mash. It requires a bit of creativity. Today I had very little of that but some great Cuban bread to use. Just some deli meats and a browning avocado stood out. Thank goodness that bread was rockin' though, especially toasted. So good that I'll be using it again properly to recreate an Italian Grinder on another date. This time I layered the bread with meats, cheese, tomato, onion and a fried egg for good measure and because it was a brunch type meal. Not bad at all.

I'm naming this sandwich 'Homeboy', like the Poor Boy. It's like LL Cool J's 'around the way girl' song. It has things already in your fridge and its for a night when you want the familiar, nothing fancy but good & hearty. Something to satisfy.