Lil Smokies Spaghetti is a delicious, quick spaghetti dish you can make while working from home that you and your kids will enjoy. Little Smokies are mini smoked sausages.
It is so convenient to have Lil Smokies. It is good by itself but also great as an ingredient.
I was reading a Yahoo article the other day about grocery shopping and pasta is still one of the items that is hard to come by. Pasta shelves are still empty. I’m not sure about flour but yeast are out of stock too.
Anyway, as a food blogger I have some pasta in my pantry and a few cans of tomato sauce. My goal is to use everything in my pantry and fridge before I go grocery shopping.
My freezer has many leftover ingredients from previous cooking. For months now, I’ve been saying I will make smoothie daily so I can free up space in my freezer.
If I could use most of what I have in my freezer before running an errand, I’ll be very happy. Social distancing will be a motivation to clean up my pantry and fridge.
Thus, I’m not wasting food, I’m saving money and I am keeping myself, family and other people safe by limiting trips to the grocery store.
It would be nice if everyone else pitch in, so we can prevent the spread of this virus.
I don’t have much meat on hand. The 4th freezer bin is where I keep meat. I bought meat weekly or every other week. Plus, I don’t like keeping meat that long.
When making spaghetti I always make it with ground beef and sausage. I have ground beef but I am saving it for another dish.
Garnish spaghetti with cheese and dried parsley.
As I have said in my previous post, we have to be creative and resourceful when cooking especially during this crisis. I haven’t been to the store for 4 weeks so I don’t even know if I’ll find the ingredients I need.
If you think grocery shopping was a chore before this crisis, now its even more of a chore. We need to take some PRECAUTIONS before we put away our groceries.
My garage is attached to my kitchen, so it was quite convenient when bringing in groceries, NOT anymore!
Now, I have to take all my groceries thru the side door leading to the backyard. Back there, I have a long wheeled commercial table where I can lay all my groceries. They will get wiped with disinfectant or washed with soap before they make it inside my house.
This is one advantage that I haven’t done any grocery shopping yet.
It might sound OVERKILL to some but I would rather take these precautions. Doing much doesn’t hurt. I’m not germaphoebic but knowing there’s no cure, hey I’ll do the best I can and not contaminate my household.
It makes me feel confident these items are safe to put it in my fridge and pantry.
This Lil Smokies was one of the last items I got 4 weeks ago. It was not on my list but on that last trip to Sams, I grabbed whatever I can grab. I’m glad I did. I can hunker down in my house for a while and refrain from going out.
How to Make Lil Smokies Spaghetti
Some tips…
Try to improvise if you don’t have some of these ingredients.
If you have Lil Smokies great, if not, substitute with Kielbasa, sausage or hot dog.
You could slice the Smokies in half but why go through that trouble. Kids love smokies and if they see it whole, it can be a motivation for them to eat.
If you are working from home, Lil Smokies Spaghetti is simple to make for lunch or dinner.
Pair spaghetti with garlic bread.
Do you keep leftover packets of ketchup when ordering fast food? If you do, use that to clean out your pantry.
Be a frugal cook. After pouring the tomato sauce, add 1 tablespoon of water to clean out the tomato sauce can.
I like my spaghetti savory with a subtle sweetness. Spaghetti is a comfort food for me and it is something I often crave for. I make spaghetti at least once a month.
Depending on my mood, I use 2 types of sauce, the Filipino Spaghetti sauce or the sauce I am using for this recipe. This sauce is similar to Bolognese that I have tweaked to my liking.
To me, spaghetti is most tasteful after a day it was cooked. Pasta has been infused with all the flavorful herbs and spices in the sauce.
Would You Like to Try Barbecue Little Smokies with Grape Jelly.
Click the link for recipe
Serve smokies with some sauce and cheese on the side.
Lil Smokies Spaghetti
Ingredients
- 2 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
- 1/3 cup ketchup
- ¼ teaspoon oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- 1 ½ tablespoons sweet relish
- ½ teaspoon sugar , add more to your liking
- ½ teaspoon dried parsley
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 small onion chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 cups lil smokies
- ¼ cup cheese (parmesan, cheddar or mozzarella)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 box 1 lb 454g spaghetti
Instructions
- Cook Lil Smokies for a minute.
- Add onion and cook until soft.
- Toss-in garlic. Cook until golden.
- Pour tomato sauce and ketchup.
- Stir-in oregano, dried basil, dried parsley, sweet relish, sugar, black pepper, garlic powder and salt.
- Let it simmer over medium-low heat for 15 minutes or until sauce is thick. Taste sauce after 15 minutes, see if you need to add a little bit more sugar to your liking.
- Meanwhile, cook spaghetti. Follow package instructions. Drain.
- Once sauce is done, turn off heat and add cheese to thicken sauce but optional.
- Pour sauce over spaghetti.
- Garnish spaghetti with cheese and parsley. Enjoy!
Notes
- Read tips on blog for ingredient substitutions.
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