I admit it. I’m an Italian food groupie. So whenever I can incorporate the flavors of the country I love with time saving simplicity, I go for it. Such is the case with this super simple carbonara.

What you need:

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  1 pound of spaghetti, a handful or two of minced left over cooked ham, olive oil, minced garlic, three large eggs, one cup of grated Parmesan cheese from the pasta aisle, one quarter cup of skim milk. (I use premixed powdered to save pennies. It works fine.) Optional: chopped scallions, chives or parsley and shaved curls of aged Asiago.

  
  

What you do: In a separate pan (with fairly steep sides), heat up olive oil, garlic and minced ham pieces. Put the one pound of pasta in to boil for about eight minutes. (If you like it slightly al dente.) In the meantime, crack the three eggs into a container and whisk briskly with a fork. Add in the one cup of grated Parmesan and continue to mix thoroughly, adding the skim milk as you go. Set the mixture aside. When the pasta is finished, drain and transfer to the ham, oil and garlic pan immediately. Start stirring with your pasta server and dump in the beaten egg / cheese / milk mixture. Then grab a spoon for your other hand and start tossing the mixture to coat the pasta and cook the eggs from the heat of the noodles. Your ham, oil and garlic will get distributed as well. Serve on a plate and top with chopped herbs and a few shaved curls of a higher end cheese to sex it up if you so choose.

Pasta selected: I used Garofalo. It worked really well, and held up to the tossing and the sauce pairing.  Serve with a salad, crusty bread and a nice bottle of wine. Romance on a dime!

Related Readings: Check out this list of cooked ham recipes.

Photo Credit: Inga Beretta

When I don’t have hours to spend rolling grape leaves but have a hankering for ethnic food, lo mein is a dish I know I can throw together in less than 10 minutes for minimal cash outlay. Here’s what you need:

Cabbage, carrots, onions, a tiny bit of cooking oil, packaged dried lo mein noodles, bottled oyster sauce, and the protein element of your choice (chicken, beef, cubed firm tofu, pork).

To prepare: Start noodle water boiling, peel the carrots and slice the ends off. Then slice on the diagonal for quick tender-crisp cooking. Set aside and get started slicing cabbage into smaller strips / chunks. The same with the onions. Put all the vegetables aside and pre-cut your meat or tofu. Small pieces are best, as they will cook up quickly. If you have everything pre-cut, this will speed things up immensely.  Put the protein in a frying pan with a bit of cooking oil and get the heat cranking. As soon as the meat is just past the color change stage, go ahead and add the vegetables.

The water should be boiling at this point, so toss in the noodles. The cool thing about lo mein noodles is that they cook up in 1-2 minutes, just like angel hair pasta. By the time they are done, the vegetables and protein element should be cooked. Drain the noodles and toss them into the pan, after turning the heat in the vegetable pan down to low. Add whatever amount of oyster sauce is appropriate. Once the sauce heats through a bit, you are ready to serve.

You may have noticed I did not include specific amounts of the ingredients in this recipe. That’s because it is so easily adapted to whatever size batch you want to make, you can really eyeball this one with very little experience in the kitchen. I really like this recipe for it’s flexibility, convenience, and low cost. Not to mention that it has a fair amount of ethnic style and is easily modified for both meat lover and vegetarian alike.

Side note: I hope this doesn’t sound too much like a shameless plug, but if you want some suggestions for having tofu prepped and ready to use on the fly, I did a fairly detailed article on the subject for Wise Bread.   It provides tips for having it prepared ahead and in your freezer to grab a few cubes whenever you need it for curry, stir fry, lo mein, etc.

Enjoy the lo mein, everybody!

Related Warm Weather Recipes: Easy Low Fat Thai Shrimp Toast, ideas for cooking with pineapple, backyard barbecue hosting, summer menu ideas and this list of summer cocktails.

Photo credit: Paperclipfork 

You have to admit, nothing beats the experience of wandering the Christmas markets of Europe and stopping for traditional mulled wine. Here’s a very affordable and easy way to enjoy a similar experience in your own home.

First, if you don’t already have one, get a crock pot. Next, select a bargain brand boxed wine of either red or white. Mulled wine is like sangria. Nobody expects you to use the good stuff.

Additionally, you’ll need at least 3/4 of a cup of sugar, one orange, one lemon (optional), 1-3 cinnamon sticks (you could also substitute several shakes of ground cinnamon) and a few shakes of ground cloves. Slice up the orange in round sections and put in the bottom of the crock pot along with the cinnamon, cloves and sugar. You can use more sugar or less, depending on the size of the slow cooker you are using. Add the boxed wine until just below the top of the crock and cover. Turn on low for 3-6 hours, or until heated through and smelling oh-so-fabulous. Ladle out into mugs and enjoy.

We used to make this stuff all the time when we lived in Italy. It’s nice to have on hand at the end of a long day, or for unexpected guests.

Related Reading: Romance and Family fun in Bolzano, Italy

Photo Credits: Misbehave
and Gia_S’ Photos.