poor girl pasta

at the end of any hard day, i want pasta. and a glass of wine. it seems i've earned it, you know? well, right around the 10th-14th food and money are usually tight. but i try to keep these ingredients at all times.

so, i give you -- poor girl pasta.

[please forgive the rudimentary phone photography]

[also, i don't think i am actually poor, i have what i need. just a play on words]

here's what you need:

• olive oil
• butter
• salt and pepper
• yellow onion
• turkey bacon
• extra firm tofu
• whole wheat pasta
• some type of red sauce
• red wine
• spinach
• cheese

okay, start out filling a pot with water for the pasta. throw some kosher salt in there. bring to a boil. (did you notice i'm pretending to be a food blogger?)

pour some olive oil in a separate pan (a couple of tablespoons, i guess), and throw in a chunk of butter, and salt&pepper. turn it on medium-ish heat. watch it carefully, don't let it burn.

then pull out a cutting board, chop up some onion. i used almost a whole onion, but it's your call. i also rough chopped some turkey bacon. i know the turkey bacon seems odd, but when tofu is your main protein, you really need to add in lots of flavor.

sautee the onion and bacon until the onion is translucent.

chop up your tofu into cubes.

add in the tofu, sprinkle in more salt and pepper. don't be afraid of tofu, it's really good, but has very little flavor of its own, so be sure to season appropriately. at this point, i'd turn the heat up to medium-high, i like for the tofu to be a little crunchy and browned on the outside, and that can take a minute.

your pasta should be close to finished now, and hopefully you were smart enough to boil your water in a larger pot than i did..

you can go ahead and drain your pasta if it's ready. and then it's back to your other pan.

add your red sauce to the tofu mixture (i used trader joe's bolognse sauce).

shortly after that, grab your wine, and pour a swig into your sauce.

turn to low, cover and let simmer for 10 minutes.

so while that's cooking, go back to your drained pasta (which i had to move to another pot, i am not an efficient dish user). add some olive oil to your pasta, throw in some spinach, salt and pepper, and balsamic vinegar.

add in your nicely simmered sauce.

give it a stir.

and serve

be sure to add plenty of cracked pepper to the top, and a little handful of cheese.

these images are super crappy, but trust me on this--it's really good. and if you happen to be a single gal/guy, this will last you an entire weeks' worth of lunches.

the end.