I bought some ground beef at Trader Joe's a week ago, and we had to use it up before it went bad. So it was time for me to get creative again.
I started googling ground beef recipes for inspiration. Nothing inspired me. Hmm, maybe an Instant Pot ground beef pasta recipe? Nah.
Then I decided to check my cabinets, and inspiration struck me. Farfalle. Creamy Tomato Basil pasta sauce. Now I know what to make! But how to make? In the Instant Pot or in a saute pan and a pasta pot?
I decided to go for the saute pan, not sure why. I just was not in the mood for the Instant Pot, and I was not feeling 100% confident that the farfalle would not be overdone in the Instant Pot. I felt more comfortable with the saute pan and the pasta pot.
I put in olive oil into the saute pan and put in the ground beef to start sauteeing on a medium high heat. I then filled up the pasta pot with water to prepare to boil the farfalle. I then added the Everyday Seasoning and Mushroom Umami blend to the meat as it was browning. Once the meat was browned and in small pieces, I added a bag of mushroom medley to the meat. I kept stirring that until the mushrooms were done. Then I added the pasta sauce and stirred that until the sauce was warm. Then I thought, hmm, why not put the pasta in there while I'm at it? The pasta pot was still waiting to come to a boil. I decided to throw in the dry farfalle into the saute pan instead of into the pasta pot. But it needs more liquid. I think I remember reading somewhere that you're supposed to put in a pasta jar of water to boil the pasta. So I filled up the now empty pasta sauce jar with water and poured the water in. At first I was afraid that I had put too much water in. I put the burner on high so that it would come to a boil. Then my husband lowered it to low so that it would simmer. Turns out, I didn't use too much water at all!
We then served ourselves and topped the meal with pecorino romano. Not bad. Delicious.
Ingredients:
Trader Giotto's Imported Olive Oil (not the Extra Virgin Olive Oil), 1-2 tbsp (I don't really measure)
Trader Joe's Organic Ground Beef 100% Grass Fed, 1 lb
Trader Joe's Everyday Seasoning, to taste
Trader Joe's Mushroom & Company Multipurpose Umami Seasoning Blend, to taste (I use this for a lot of things - eggs, vegetables, etc. However, I find that the shaker holes are a bit too big, so the seasoning blend comes out a bit too quickly for my taste - I am always scared that I'll overseason whatever I'm putting this on)
Trader Joe's Mushroom Medley, 1 bag (in the frozen section)
Trader Joe's Creamy Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce, 1 jar
Trader Joe's Italian Farfalle, 1 bag
Water, 1 jar (same jar as the pasta sauce)
Trader Joe's Pecorino Romano, to taste
I apologize for the pictures in advance. I didn't think about taking a picture of the ingredients before I started cooking. But hey, this is not a professional blog, this is a blog full of realism and the mess of general life.
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