Escape From Sane by Blogarella

Blogarella is morphing into Old Mother Hubbard, but not because she had to fetch her poor dog a bone.  She actually suspects that her poor dog might be eating better than her since he often solicits neighbors for food when they are trying to feed their own canine companions.  Today was a late day at the office and the cupboard was bare.  While I love convenience, there comes a time when you’ve seen one too many dollar menus and its time for an actual meal.  I contacted Mr. Blogarella and was informed that he had eaten all of our sausage, and now he was working on our bacon.  This meant that I had to find something to do with the bacon before he got to it.  Frantically, I dialed a parent.  Upon answering, I said “I have to make dinner and all I have is bacon!”  They went on to rave about a dish called carbonara.  When I asked how to make a carbonara, they replied, “go on the internet.”  Wow!  The parental units have certainly become saavy!  After scouring my poor cabinets, I discovered that there was zero pasta, but plenty of rice.  So after some intense googling, I came across a Alex, somebody I may never know, but I was able to adapt his recipe for rice carbonara, and I’m happy to report that it was eaten with a smile by Mr. Blogarella who said “you really pulled a rabbit out of a hat tonight.”  It was true.  Here is the recipe from Alex, or as I like to call him, the man who saved dinner:

• 2 pieces of Bacon, diced
• 2 Egg Yolks
• 1/4 cup Romano or other Hard Strong Cheese
• 1 1/2 cups Short Grained Rice
• 3 cups Water
• Salt, Pepper & Basil

Cook the rice as according to the package.

Cook the bacon until almost crisp then put in a large bowl (straining out the grease).

Whisk the egg yolks with the cheese and add to the bacon. Stir in the cooked rice and add the seasonings to taste.

Some days, you just don’t have time to care about what is being put on your dinner table.  Sadly, Blogarella feels like this most days, and uses pregnancy as her scapegoat.  Why?  Because she’s carrying the future Miss America in her womb, therefore she gets to pull the “tired” card more often than most.  Blogarella encourages other pregnant women to do this, and while you are at it, go ahead and say anything you want to your man, anything!  You can always blame it on the hormones later.  Its not often in life where you will get a  get-out-of-jail-free card that lasts for 9 months, so embrace it, nuzzle it, rub it all over your naked body! 

Blogarella hasn’t shopped, and thinks its perefectly acceptable to eat frozen pizza with self rising crust most nights of the week.  Mr. Blogarella does not agree with this, something about nutrition?  I don’t know, mostly I think he just despises the world of convenience and uses nutrition as a scapegoat (sounds familiar).  Sometimes when he is in the middle of a nutrition related rant, I hum Dolly Parton songs in my head to block out the noise, sort of like I used to do as a kid when my brother would play really crappy records.  Last night was the usual “We have a frozen pizza” discussion, the one that Blogarella hardly ever wins.  Therefore, a meal of uber-convenience, little effort, and high flavor had to happen, somehow.  So I present “When Mac & Cheese Alone Won’t Cut It!”  I am confident this is not the last time I will have to turn mac & cheese into something slightly more fabulous, so here is take 1:

Tuna Mac & Cheese

1 Box of Mac & Cheese (the stuff that has to gooey cheese envelope included)

2 Cans of tuna fish

Italian style Breadcrumbs

Garlic

Pepper

1.  Boil mac & cheese according to instructions on box.  When its done, drain the water, and dump the mac into a bowl.  Add the 2 cans of tuna fish (make sure you work some magic on this with a fork first, unless you like super chunky tuna bites).  Sprinkle some garlic powder and pepper on top.  Add cheese and stir.  Gradually add some breadcrumbs to the mix, and voila – or something like that!