Ugh, I’m alone at home for dinner. A quick look in the refrigerator revealed half a yellow onion, a whole red bell pepper, remains of a jar of Spicy Tomato Pesto Sauce, a mostly empty bottle of Jalapeño Stuffed Olives (marinated in Napa Valley Chardonnay). An extended search yielded a few brown mushrooms and some left-over cooked chicken breast, green leaf lettuce and a bunch of scallions. The pasta drawer yielded organic Cadia Penne Rigate. Dinner was going to be Penne Rigate with Spicy Basil Sauce and a green salad.

I sliced the onion, mushrooms and half the bell pepper and added the slices into a hot sauté pan started with olive oil, dried basil, crushed garlic and a few peperoncino flakes. I ate the lone olive left in the depleted jar of Jalapeño Stuffed Olives, and added the Chardonnay to the sauce. Next, the half jar of tomato sauce and 1 cup of dry penne went into the pan. Finally, I added hot water (about a half-cup) so that the pasta wouldn’t dry out. I put the cover on the pan, turned the heat down and set the timer to 11 minutes.

Things were looking up, the main course would be ready when the timer went off. (I reminded myself to add the chicken at the end and get out the Parmesan cheese.)

While the pasta cooked, I had plenty of time to turn two lettuce leaves and a scallion into a salad (adding, Newman’s Lite Italian Dressing).

Desert was a bit of chocolate, a cookie and some fresh cherries from Washington State.

Bon Appetite,

Carto