Pasta Sauce Adventure

What happens when you finally run out of the vodka sauce you made...a long time ago, and don't want to go back to the store-bought variety?
Well, you use the one can of tomato sauce in the back of your cupboard, of course.
Not satisfied with just tomato sauce, I decided to spice it up with chopped onion, chili powder, lots of salt, cayenne pepper, lots of basil, garlic, red wine, and some canned milk.
I don't know why I added canned milk, but with all those dark ingredients, it did make the whole thing taste a little lighter without being excessively creamy. And I added some water, because I was afraid it was getting too thick.
If I had had anything else on hand, I might have used it, but I didn't. What I ended up with was some nice oniony, spicy, very dark tomato sauce.
I will continue with my adventure of sauces, and we will see what I get next time.
In the meantime, we've only been eating pasta this week. I'm getting very bored with that.

Throw stuff in a pan and fry it.

Last night was a very impromptu night, all around. I just happened to run into a friend I hadn't seen in months, although she lives across the street. She just so happened to come to my office when I just so happened to come back to work when I wasn't supposed to in order to drop something off. I invited her over for some booze, as we have soooo much of it. (Must. Stop. Buying. Liquor.)
Anyway, she was going to bring over a frozen Lean Cuisine meal. Naturally, I couldn't let her do that. I was supposed to make stir-fry anyway for myself and my boyfriend, so I knew there would be enough for three.
So, I started taking things out and throwing them in the pan. Onions, red pepper, diced, thrown in the pan. Of course, then I browned the onions in beer, because that's what I do.
Browning onions in beer might be the most useful thing I ever learned from my dad.
Anyway. Then I grilled three large chicken breasts on the world's smallest George Foreman grill, diced them, put them in the pan. Then I threw in some water chestnuts and bamboo shoots, which admittedly I did buy in anticipation of having stir fry.
I boiled some vermicelli, not having any kind of actual asian noodles. Then I threw in some soy sauce and some olive oil and some really great sesame chili oil (thanks Jenna) to both dishes and fried them some more.
That's all. It was really really good. The only thing I regret doing was throwing in an egg. It made it look like something was a little wrong with the dish and it didn't add anything.
So, here's to completely impromptu decisions.

The best macaroni and cheese EVAR

Yeah, the best. I made it. In fact, I invented it on the fly. Last night.
I needed to make dinner for my blind-as-a-bat boyfriend, who lost his glasses and enlisted me as his personal taxi service for the evening.
I was happy to be the chauffeur, because I didn't want him to wreck my car and die. And I like doing nice things for him. Which is how this dish came about.

I had an indeterminate amount of time to kill between dropping him off and picking him up again later, so I decided to use that time to make him some dinner.
I had input from a couple of friends, which explains why I used an entire box of shell noodles. I had a lot of various cheeses in my fridge from dinners that had gone before.
To be honest, the idea for this dinner came to me in a dream about a year ago. I was craving macaroni and cheese so badly that I dreamed some chef made some for me, with some ridiculous blend of cheeses and either sake or red wine. And it was fabulous. So, I decided to make the fictional macaroni and cheese that my unconscious brain made up.
So, I boiled a whole box of pasta. I melted about half a brick of velveeta, and probably half a cup of the remaining feta, and 3 tablespoons of butter, and a little bit of olive oil in with the cooked shells. I also used about 3/4 of a can of Carnation while the cheese was melting.
Then, I dumped the noodles and melted cheese mix into my largest pie pan, as the actual deep casserole dish is being used somewhere.
Then, I decided to fry some onions in a bit of cheap Pinot Noir we had laying around the kitchen. Stuck those on top of the cheesy noodle pie. Then, I refrigerated it for about 20 minutes to go and get the boyfriend.
When I came back, I put yet more feta, yet more Velveeta, and some grated parmesan on top, along with some bread crumbs. And I baked it at 350 for about 20 minutes.

Mmmmmmm.

The onions were a little fruity by themselves, but with the cheese, they taste absolutely magnificent. And they're a lovely purple color that contrasts nicely with the yellow. And the Carnation makes the whole thing delightfully creamy and sticky.

Pictures will be added when I stop being a lazy ass and download them from my camera.