Budget cooking: slight variations

So one thing about budget cooking is that you are quite limited on ingredients, which also means you can be pretty limited on variety. There are plenty of things you can do to add some variety to your diet, the simplest of which is to just add a little something extra to something else you already like.

So we've already done chicken legs with the bones removed, seasoned with salt, pepper, and paprika, then pan fried in butter and olive oil. Simple, tasty, always a favorite.

We've sautéed veggies in a deglazed pan plenty of times. This time was diced yellow bell pepper, diced radish, sliced mushroom, and spinach. I deglazed the pan with a little white wine and added them all in together with a little butter.

After they'd cooked down, I added some spinach, let it get pretty wilted, seasoned it all with some salt, then added cream. After the cream got mixed in, I added a lot of black pepper and mixed it again. I added some pasta (already boiled in a quick chicken broth made from the bones from the chicken legs), and tossed it all together.

So what's new? In between the two, I threw in some broccoli. When it was about halfway cooked (seen above), I tossed in some sliced garlic, chopped green onion, and quartered cherry tomatoes, then let those all finish together with a dash or two of salt. See? Fucking simple.

Of course, the presentation took me a minute. I managed to actually stand the pasta up (I twirled it with my tongs and didn't just slop it all over the fucking place), and I grated a little asiago on top. Then I just spooned some of the broccoli/tomato/garlic mix to the side and filled the empty space with sliced chicken leg. Nothing particularly new; instead, it was simple, tasty, fairly healthy-ish, and quick, and still something I haven't cooked in the last month and a half. Variety doesn't have to be a pain in the ass; it often just requires taking a slightly different path.

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