Jill (and Joe) Can Cook: Garlic Parmesan Spaghetti

Joe bought $15 worth of steak during our last outing to the grocery store. He showed me the package of steak during the check out, he told me the price, but as usual, I was probably tuning him out. (-; Sorry Joe, but when I pulled the steak out of the fridge for dinner, I almost fainted when I saw the price! We never spend that much on steak. I did have a vague recollection of him saying something like, "Blah, blah, blah, I picked up some steak.. blah blah.. since we never go out to eat.. blah blah.."

He told me he had some super special, secret way to cook the steak. He said he cooked it for his co-workers, as a test run, so that he could tweak it to perfection when he made it for me. Aww, sweet husband! Since he was showing his love for me through food, I planned to show him my love for him through food as well.

I found this recipe from Pinterest  that sounded good (that I have no idea where it ended up, so I'm not linking it. Sorry!!). This recipe seemed like it would complement Joe's steak nicely.

 

Garlic Parmesan Spaghetti

Ingredients:
1/2 a box of spaghetti noodles (any type of noodle would work)
3 cloves of garlic, minced
3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1 tbsp. parsley
salt and pepper to taste


Directions:
In one pot, cook pasta as directed on box.
In a medium/large size pan, heat extra virgin olive oil and sauté garlic in it.
Add in cooked and drained pasta.
Add in cheese, parsley, and salt and pepper. Mix well and serve.


As soon as I started cooking, I realized that Joe was using a lot of the same ingredients. It made the house smell super delicious.

Since this is mostly a dump and toss, I only have one picture of me cooking:

It's barely even worth adding. Nothing interesting happening here.

Joe and I do this sometimes, where we each cook a dish or two for our dinner. I'm glad we have a kitchen big enough for both of us because we both enjoy cooking, especially together. I sautéed the garlic in the oil as the noodles cooked in another pot. Since my part of the meal was pretty easy, I spent a lot of time watching Joe cook our expensive steak.

I wish my blog had smell-a-vision or was scratch and sniff or something. The smell was amazing!!

I didn't take specific notes on what he was doing, but I do know that he was cooking the steaks in oil, butter, garlic, and some fresh herbs he picked up while grocery shopping. He looked like a real chef as he basted the steaks in the juices.

Once my noodles were fully cooked, tossed with all the other ingredients, and seasoned to perfection, it was time to eat.

Extreme close-up!!

My cheesy noodles went deliciously with Joe's herbed steak.

We all really loved this meal, along with our little side salads (we're really into salads lately). Joe's cooking never disappoints, when he manages not to burn something (sorry, Joe!!). And the recipes I've been trying out lately seem to be pretty well worth it, too.

Before I met Joe, I tended to use garlic salt or that minced garlic that comes in a jar because using fresh garlic was too much work if I was just cooking for myself. And that's how I felt when it came to lots of ingredients/spices. As time goes on and we use more fresh ingredients, I'm noticing that I prefer the taste of the fresher ingredients and "from scratch" meals over the stuff I've grown up on and/or cooked for myself in the past. I always considered myself picky and a creature of habit, so it kind of surprises me that my food preferences are changing. And the best part is that they're changing for the better and it will benefit my kids.

Although, we'll still eat rice-a-roni. There's just no way I'll ever get over my love of that!