Syndicated column from week of October 21, 2012.  

Some days you just want to eat smooth, cheesy, gooey, warm foods; you know what I mean?!

Tonight supper was one of those meals. My husband was working outside, and even though it was fairly warm, I felt a chill in the air.

Maybe the chill was in my mind. But with overnight temperatures in the 40s, I am willing to bet it was the air.

I started looking in the kitchen cupboards for something to fix for supper and didn’t see anything that looked like an obvious meal. So I poked around a little more, checking out the ingredients to see what I could come up with. Thank goodness I have got a fairly well stocked pantry this week!

Usually, when I do this, my husband raises his eyebrows. He’s never sure what combination I will come up with. Tonight though, I knew he would like it. It is a simple meal, with noodles and cheese and pork. Right up his alley!

Cheese and Bacon Noodles

1 pkg (12 oz) Egg Noodles
1 can (6.5 oz) Mushroom Slices
1 can (28 oz) 3 Cheese Recipe Starter
1 pkg (6 oz) frozen Breakfast Sausages
1 pkg (2.5 oz) Bacon Bits

Prepare the noodles and breakfast sausages according to package directions. Drain the noodles. Cut the breakfast sausages into half inch sized pieces.  Toss the noodles in the cheese sauce. Add the drained mushroom slices, sausages and bacon bits. Stir to coat everything in the cheese.  Serve.

Make it a Meal:  Add some peas or other green vegetables. Serve with a salad. A ham sandwich on the side would be good, too!

Variations: Toss in some chopped red pepper. Exchange the sausages for mini meatballs. If you are feeling really glamorous, sprinkle some shredded cheese and bread crumbs on top the dish and heat it in the oven until the bread crumb topping is just browned.

Approximate Nutritional Value: Servings Per Recipe: 6. Amount Per Serving: Calories: 403, Total Fat: 16g, Cholesterol: 78mg, Sodium: 757mg, Total Carbs: 45g, Protein: 17g.

This tossed together meal was a hit. In fact, there wasn’t even enough left over to save for lunch tomorrow.

Some days have menus that were planned in advance with ingredients specifically purchased in a timely manner. Other days the menu is much more spontaneous. The nice thing about keeping a fairly stocked pantry is that spontaneous meals are possible.

Keeping a stocked pantry doesn’t require tremendous amounts of space or money, just a little planning. Some good pantry staples include several types of pasta, some pasta sauce, canned and frozen vegetables, some sort of meat and a small variety of spices. Of course, you will want to have flour, sugar, baking soda, etc for baking needs!

You can use a kitchen cupboard as your pantry if you keep some basic ingredients on hand. A little forethought and planning is all you need. One day, I ‘ll have a huge walk in type pantry I can dream, can’t I?

While I am dreaming, I am going to have the last bit of the cheese and bacon noodles.

Noel Lizotte is breaking free of corporate stress with convenience cooking! This recipe is similar to ones printed in her cookbook Apron Free Cooking which is available on the website www.apronfreecooking.com. She also writes a monthly column at www.culinarychat.net.

Interested in one of the books pictured above? You can purchase on Amazon here.