My cousin in South Carolina is wicked smart. She can go shopping and come back with a car load of goods and more money in her purse than when she left the house. It’s incredible! I am always in awe when she posts on FB about her bargains and I try to emulate her financial acumen…though not nearly as successfully.
One thing she does at this time every year is eat out of the pantry for a month and buy little to nothing save for a few perishables. We were out of eggs yesterday, so I did ask Mr. FixIt to pick up some when he was in town. I stood in front of the pantry and looked at what we had. I chose spaghetti. Then I had a peek in the fridge and grabbed the last four slices of bacon and two big cloves of garlic.
I cut the bacon in little pieces, put about half a cup of water in a skillet and dumped in the bacon. I gave it a good stir and set the heat to medium while I smashed and minced the garlic. I put the pasta on to cook. The water evaporated on the bacon and it fried up so nice and crispy. Once the bacon was done, I strained the crispy pieces out and put about a teaspoon of the bacon grease back in the skillet.
Still on medium heat, I gently stirred the garlic for about 30 seconds till it was lightly golden brown. You do NOT want to burn garlic or it gets terribly bitter and you have to start over. I put the garlic in a bowl along with another scant tablespoon of the bacon grease. Then, when the grease was cool enough not to fry them, I added three fresh eggs and one extra egg yolk and one cup of finely grated parmesan cheese, a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of freshly cracked pepper.
I carefully drained the water from the al dente pasta and reserved a cup of the hot cooking water. It was pretty starchy, and I needed that for the sauce. After I put the pasta back in the pan, I gently poured a half cup of the pasta water in the egg mixture and whipped it carefully. Then I poured the sauce in the hot pasta and added the bacon. I tossed it several times over the next two to three minutes and watched that raw egg sauce magically cook by the heat of the spaghetti. Voila! Spaghetti Carbonara! Everyone should know how to cook this incredibly easy dish. It’s quick, economical, and looks like you’ve been slaving in a hot kitchen all day. So, so yummy!
Yesterday was one of those days where I felt like all I was doing was cooking and cleaning. I made French Toast and bacon for breakfast. It was NOT a low fat, low carb day. But we seldom eat so rich. It’s just nice to know you can whip up something so delicious with stuff you have on hand. Oh, and by the way…Dollar General has had eggs at just under $4.00 so we got two dozen.
Mr. FixIt and I talked the other day about getting chickens. I guess we aren’t the only ones because there have been several stories in the news of late about the truth of rearing chickens. I’ve heard of people adding up the numbers and, not only was it a full time job keeping up with the hens, they ended up paying about $18 a dozen. We are at a point in our lives where we would just as soon pay someone else’s to raise our food. I’ll buy in bulk from farmers and farmer’s markets before I’ll spend all that money and maybe not have good results.
I worked at my desk yesterday and wasn’t quite as productive as I’d been the day before. There’s a big learning curve in what I’m doing but man is it a blast! I finally reached my brother. He has lost two phones since Thanksgiving! I have no idea what’s happening to them, but they can’t find them anywhere. He has a land line which is how I spoke with him, but he can’t hear very well on it. We’ll be going to Colorado this summer sometime so I’ll make it a point to straighten all that out.
Mr. FixIt is at the beginning stages of purging the house. He’s lived here since the late ‘70s so it’s going to be a huge undertaking. It’s like when you catch your kids doing something awesome. You want to thank them and point out how happy you are, but you don’t want to jinx anything so you let it go! lol Let’s just say, I’m tickled to death and I’ll do anything to support him while he gets to work. I’ve already done the big purge when I sold the Colorado house. I know what he’s up against and it isn’t pretty nor is it easy. But it IS satisfying.
The week is half gone and we’re sliding into the weekend soon. Mr. FixIt is going to the WVU Basketball game on Saturday with his son. I elected to stay home. I have so much to do and I am not crazy about crowds. While our little county doesn’t have any reported cases of Covid, you KNOW it’s here. They’re just not reporting their positive tests anymore since we’re taking our tests at home for the most part.
It’s been an ordinary day in the ordinary life of some ordinary folks. But man…we sure do have fun with it!
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“…Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything. Be quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed to the homeless—cheerfully. Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it: if words, let it be God’s words; if help, let it be God’s hearty help. That way, God’s bright presence will be evident in everything through Jesus, and he’ll get all the credit as the One mighty in everything—encores to the end of time. Oh, yes!”
1 Peter 4:7-11 MSG