cheater's pasta

This is not a recipe.  More of a good idea.  Everyone has times now and then where you need dinner fast, and you want it to be filling and look nice.

I love keeping a few frozen items from Trader Joe's around for what I've dubbed "backup meals".  I don't use them all the time because Hello high sodium content! but sometimes I'm so busy and distracted that I completely forget about making dinner until, well, dinner time.

Frozen meals are great too if you have a hastily planned date, if you want to impress someone but your cooking skills are sub-par.  I see it as a halfway point between a home cooked meal and putting a store bought cake on your plate and calling it your own.

My favorite backup meal is the "penne arrabbiata" frozen pasta from Trader Joe's.  The pasta and sauce are frozen in  bag together and all you have to do is throw them in a pan for about 7 minutes and stir occasionally.  So easy!  All I do to make the meal more well rounded and filling is add a can of drained and rinsed garbanzo beans into the pan for the last few minutes of cooking.  Done!  If you want to get really fancy and make it your own you could even go one step further and cut up some fresh basil to sprinkle over top.

That's it.  You can now fake you way through a pretty, healthy (enough), and filling meal for two in under ten minutes, and for less than $5.  How's that for date night?