IT STARTED OUT AS A SAUSAGE AND EGG SANDWICH THIS MORNING

One morning I fried up the three sweet Italian sausages that I had leftover from earlier in the week. I made a sausage and egg sandwich out of it. Just scrambled a couple of eggs and put ½ of one of the sausages and a spoonful of eggs on a small roll I had in the freezer and thawed in the microwave.

(I had rolls left over from a dinner, so I wrapped each one individually, put them all in a gallon Ziplock freezer bag, and threw them in the freezer. Now I have a single roll whenever I want one. We don’t eat too much bread most of the time, so I end up freezing bread and rolls almost every time I buy some.)

My little sandwich was yummy. I only had half of it though – I shared it with my husband.

Later in the afternoon, I had a hankering for pasta with tomato sauce for dinner.

I had a jar of sauce in the pantry, a bag of small bay scallops in the freezer, a small zucchini that I needed to use up, an open package of spaghetti noodles in the pantry, and, of course, two sausages from this mornings. I usually have my own homemade marinara sauce in the freezer outside, but the yard was so soggy from all the snow and rain, I didn’t’ want to go out there to get it. I keep a jar of my favorite sauce around for just such occasions, usually a marinara.

I call this dish:

Spaghetti with Sausage, Scallops and Zuchinni

(brilliant!)

2 T olive oil

1 c of small bay scallops (alternative, use shrimp), thawed, and drained very well

2 Italian sausages, cooked and sliced thinly

1 jar of sauce, or equivalent amount of your own home made

1 small zucchini, quartered lengthwise, and then sliced into ¾ inch chunks.

½ pound spaghetti

I put up water to get the pasta going and cooked the spaghetti a light al dente.

In a large saucepan, I added the olive oil and over high heat, sautéed the scallops quickly – maybe two minutes. I added the sliced sausage and the sauce. I let the sauce simmer slowly. I wanted to make sure the scallops wouldn’t be tough, so I simmered them for maybe 15 or 20 minutes to soften them. Then I tossed the zucchini chunks into the sauce, and cooked that for maybe 5 minutes. The zucchini doesn’t take very long. Drain the pasta.

That's it! I spooned some of this sauce over the drained spaghetti. Top with a little Parmesan if you like. It was a delicious meal that I would have been happy to get in a restaurant!

This recipe is very typical of meals I make at home. I don’t waste anything if I can help it. Everything in this dish was either a leftover or on hand. So I always scout the fridge, freezer and pantry for what I have. It's yet another example of how you can make something out of "nothing" !