No More Boring Spaghetti!

What's the fastest, cheapest dinner besides mac & cheese? Spaghetti, right? I mean, you get a package of ground meat, a jar of sauce, a box of noodles - how hard can it be?
For a while, our family had spaghetti dinners weekly! If you've tried this, you know how fast one can "spaghetti out". :) I did!
But I'm not about to urge you to start making all-from-scratch slow-simmer spaghetti sauce, or to start making noodles in your kitchen. Not that it's not worth it. But c'mon - who's got time for this?!
You can, however, turn an ordinary, "everyday" spaghetti into a "superstar" spaghetti  by adding just a couple of extra ingredients. For mine, I've made a sauteed mushroom-garlic-peppercorn topping, and substituted ground beef for sweet basil Italian sausage from our local butcher shop. Oh, what a glorious plate of pasta I got!

To make mushroom topping I used:

• 8 oz fresh button mushrooms, finely diced
• 2 big cloves of fresh garlic, minced
• about 1/4 tsp of freshly-ground black peppercorns

Add about 2 TBS of oil to a skillet, then, once hot, add mushrooms. Sautee on med-high heat just until they start turning golden.

Next add garlic and pepper. Mix, and take off the heat. This will go right on top of your sausage and sauce, followed by freshly grated cheese, and some fresh basil. Super fast, super easy, and MMMMMM.. super good!