Sunday, March 10, 2024

Mystery Solved, Mrs. HM Refuses To Take The Fall

FOUND IT! My missing Blogger-eaten post! It was over on my not-so-secret blog! Sorry if you read both, and have already seen it. People who don't know about this blog are probably thinking their gal Val had a stroke, and was typing gibberish.

It's possible I could have typed both posts on that account. But I've not made such a mistake in all these 15 years or more that I've had two blogs. So who shall we point the finger at? A seasoned veteran of double-blogging, or BLOGGER, who has supposedly instituted a new sign-in screen? Perhaps it got its wires crossed in a momentary glitch. Both my blogs DO have the same recovery email. Though they have different sign-ins and passwords. Maybe that jumping cursor issue also affected my sign-in.

Anyhoo... with only one day of ado, here's what I meant to post on Saturday.
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Friday morning, I made sauce for the pasta I planned to cook that evening. You know I don't like spaghetti. Too messy. Too hard to eat. So I had some shells that I find acceptable. I always cook the whole package, and then we have leftovers.

The problem with pasta leftovers is that they soak up the sauce. In the past, I've had little jars of pizza sauce in the pantry, that I can add to the leftovers. I got them at Save A Lot, and haven't been there in a while. I picked up some Ragu sauce at 10Box in a plastic jar. I figured that instead of using my usual canned pasta sauce, and needing more for leftovers, I'd get this jar. Since it has a screw top, I would have some left to add later.

Well. I'm re-thinking that decision. The Ragu said it was old-style, with meat flavoring. I poured it into a saucepan while I was browning the hamburger. As usual, I added some minced garlic, ground black pepper, a large can of mushrooms (per Farmer H's tastes), and a little bit of margarine. Upon an initial taste, that sauce was WAY TOO SWEET! Dang it! I fiddled and faddled, trying to make it more like my old sauce. I added some powdered parmesan from a shaker. Spooned in some of the hamburger grease. Added more ground black pepper. By the time I added the cooked hamburger, it was acceptable.

Farmer H didn't know the difference. He said it was good!

When I warm up the leftovers, I'm not sure what it will take to make the addition of some sauce taste like the original. I'm guessing ground black pepper and more powdered parmesan will do the trick. Perhaps some garlic powder and garlic salt if that doesn't work. 

I'm going back to my canned sauce, and getting some pizza sauce to have on hand.

4 comments:

Rae said...

So glad you found yourself. I thought it was odd, since you didn't indicate you were feeling poorly or anything like that. For the record, I was a bit concerned but decided to blame the internets. Ranee (Mn)

Hillbilly Mom said...

Rae,
Thanks for your concern. Usually it's an internet or electric problem. I might have had one blog done and set to post already when it hit. If I'm sick, like with my Unfortunate HospitVALzation, or when I had my multiple bilateral pulmonary embolisms, I try to have The Pony put out a couple sentences about my absence.

River said...

It's so annoying when a new sauce doesn't work out as planned! This is why I so rarely try anything new. I don't mind spaghetti, I usually break the long lengths into thirds before cooking so it's a bit easier to eat. Most of the time I buy different shapes instead, to "hold" the sauce, shells, or twists or "Orichette" the ones shaped like little ears. I always add stuff to the sauce too, extra onion and garlic, grated zucchini and chopped mushrooms, the big flat brown ones called Portobello.

Hillbilly Mom said...

River,
I used to break spaghetti in half, but Farmer H and the boys were not happy about it. I like the shells, or the twisty kind of pasta, to hold the sauce, and not be hard to eat. Or the tube kinds, like macaroni or rigatoni. Yes to the garlic and mushrooms, though the boys did not like mushrooms. So I added them after saucing the boys' pasta.