Grandma, 79, Reveals Shocking Secret

What you don't know can really cost you.

Maybe you can tell I’ve been looking to the New York Times and YouTube for headline writing tips. Don’t think of it as clickbait, though: I’m simply doing the best I can to help you, here, and I need you to pay attention.

If I were really going to follow the YouTube/Daily Paper model, though, I’d make you read all the way to the end for the big reveal. But you don’t have that kind of time, and neither do I. So here it is:

A fabulous meal is lurking, hidden in your fridge right now, practically free.

In something like 15 minutes, you can accomplish three amazing things at once. Thing one, you will clean up your fridge, or at least make a lot more space in it. Thing two, you will make a hearty, delicious, healthy meal, in one pot. Thing three, you will impress the heck out of that spouse, the kids, any pals who are hanging around, hungry.

Let’s call it “Clean-the-fridge Pasta”.

First, take those kinda sorry-looking leftovers out and put them on the kitchen counter. In this case, it was:

1/2 organic red pepper

3/4 container Trader Joe’s TomatoFeta Soup

1/2 package Trader Joe’s Feta Cheese

One organic yellow onion

1/2 package organic mushrooms

1/3 bag organic arugula

1 lb frozen ground beef (grass fed, organic, emotionally well adjusted, etc etc)

Chop the pepper, onions, and mushrooms, and sauté them in a high-sided iron skillet or heavy pot with your favorite healthy fat. Throw the ground beef in, and move it around to defrost and sauté it in the veggies. Season it with some smokey salt and ground black pepper.

When the veggies are tender and the meat is browned, toss in the soup. Got Genius Soup? (Brownies for Breakfast, p. 92) Use that. Got some good broth? Use that. Got tomatoes that are starting to look tired? Chop ‘em up and throw ‘em in. Spinach? In ya go!

Here’s the really shocking part.

You’re going to use chickpea pasta, but not the way the package directions tell you. You do have some chickpea pasta, don’t you? High in protein, plus gluten-free (most brands, but read the label), plus high in fiber, plus great tasting? Of course you do. But here’s the thing. Don’t boil it in water in another pot. Just throw it in. Toss the whole small package full — about 8 oz. — into the boiling mixture in your pot. Leave the box out.

Make sure there’s enough liquid in the pot to cover the pasta; add more broth or soup if you need to cover it. Cook everything together for about the same length of time on the pasta box directions, and test for doneness.

Which is how you discover the secret.

When the pasta cooks in the soup, veggies, and meat, it soaks up all that great flavor. It doesn’t need another pot or to be drained in a colander. It doesn’t get too gooey, and it tastes better.

As the pasta is cooking, throw in the chopped arugula or other greens you’ve drug out. Parsley? Spinach? Yup, all good.

If you’re adding cheese, wait until the pasta’s almost done.

So Okay, I lied. It’s not exactly free.

But for the price of the ground beef and cheese and pasta, you’ve got a lovely one-pot meal to feed four or five folks. And let’s face it, you might have ended up throwing some or all of that other stuff away, because it didn’t look that appealing just sitting there, getting older..

As a woman of a certain age, I’m a believer —as you may be able to tell — in the value of cosmetic intervention.

Here’s something that IS totally free, to watch or listen to while you’re making that swell meal: Amy Fagan and me, dishing out lots more great info for you.