Penne with Vodka Sauce

No Mani Monday today – I’ve had to trim my nails due to upcoming gigs on cello and the need to practice. They’re just so horribly hard to keep painted when they’re nothing but nubs. Instead I have for you a dinner I made last week – Penne with Vodka Sauce.

Unfortunately I don’t have a recipe for this one. It’s a family dish (yea, a mostly Russian and Ukrainian family has a heritage Italian recipe… figure that out) that I’ve been cooking so long I’m not even sure there ever was a recipe to begin with. I just sort of go and throw stuff in until it looks right. Tomatoes, garlic, vodka, meat, cheese… sometimes some mushrooms, spinach, and onions depending on my mood.

One of these days when I’m cooking it I’ll keep track of what and how much of things I add so I can post it here, but for now I guess it just serves as proof that I’m keeping to my cooking plans in terms of finances – cooking affordable meals in large quantities that can feed me all week.