Skillet Pasta

Skillet Pasta - aka, who knew? Last week I was perusing Cheap Healthy Good, and I saw a reference to The Best 30 minute Recipe from America's Test Kitchen. It got me thinking..."wait, don't I have that cookbook?" So one night, I sat down with the book and started reading it (like a regular book), and I got to the "skillet pasta" page.

Who knew that you could cook your pasta in a skillet with the sauce? I had no idea. My friend Maryanne, however, apparently was in her 20's before she knew people did it any differently. This skillet meal appeals to me for many reasons: 1. the 30 minute meal, 2. the one-pot meal, 3. the environmentally-friendly meal - you don't have two burners on, and you aren't trying to boil a gallon of water (thus wasting energy AND water- water is an issue in So. Cal.)

Never being one to actually follow a recipe the first time, I decided to make a skillet pasta with whatever I had on hand. It looks like 8 oz of pasta needs about 2-3 cups of liquid. I used canned diced tomatoes and water.

Skillet Pasta and Beans:
2 c. cooked kidney beans (cooked from dried) - 0.30
7 oz pasta (I had a cute 7 oz bag...from the Mexican grocery, the cheapest around) - 0.33
14 oz can diced tomatoes, and juice 0.60
1/2 onion, diced - 0.10
4 oz mozzarella, shredded - 0.50
1 oz parmesan, grated - 0.25
dried basil, garlic powder, oregano, marjoram, thyme - 0.20
fresh basil - 0.20
1 T oil - 0.10
2.5 c. water - 0
Total: $2.58 for about 5 servings, or $0.51 each

Saute the onions in oil until soft. Add diced tomatoes, kidney beans, dried herbs, and some salt and pepper. Add pasta and water. Bring to a boil, cover, and keep boiling at a medium boil for 15-20 min, until pasta is cooked. Stir in cheeses and chopped fresh basil if you've got it.

This was so tasty, my hubby demanded it for lunch the next day. I have a picture, but our home computer died two weeks ago, and my hubby has been trying to get it working again. It makes blogging, especially adding pictures, problematic - I'm using his work laptop.