Empty Fridge?.....Whats Left Over

You were home, with your family and their stocked refrigerator, for Thanksgiving. You've returned back to campus--and all that is left in your dinky fridge is a crate of eggs, some ketchup, left over beer perhaps, and if you're lucky.....frozen veggies still sitting in your freezer. In your pantry, or lets be honest--shelf--is some cereal, a box of pasta, and some 5 minute cous cous you've stopped eating because it is tasteless and makes you hate your life.

Welcome to post-Thanksgiving college food syndrome. You're cranky, you're hungry, and you're too lazy to hitch a ride and go to the supermarket. I feel your pain.

Being creative with the odds and ends of things left over is challenging, but sort of fun. I did a little experiment before going to the grocery store yesterday. I decided to find 5 things I still had, and to make dinner out of them. This is what I was working with:

1/2 of a large, peeled red onion

1 lemon

1/2 box of whole wheat penne pasta

a handful of frozen broccoli

1 stick of butter (we were actually out of olive oil....sad day)

Granted, I was lacking a protein. But hey, you can go without protein for one night--right? Ehhh....anyway.......thats truly all I had left. So, I boiled some water and got that pasta and broccoli cooking. Threw the broccoli in the pasta with a hardy amount of butter, cut up some onion and threw that in as well, and drizzled some lemon juice/salt/pepper over that sucker. Was it amazing? No. Was it pretty good? Yes.

When doing a "whats left over" meal such as this, "pretty good" should be considered a great success.

Use what you've got, don't stress, and know that even with 3 ingredients--you can likely whip up something satisfying. Good luck, godspeed, and go to the supermarket already.