Spaghetti Dish Leads to Cartimar

This is one dish that really facinates me:  No Pasta Spaghetti!  Huh?  Yup, that was my reaction too when I first saw it in the cookbook.  So here goes:

Minced beef
Tomato, finely chopped
Any other vegetables you may have (zucchini, green bell peppers) --- I actually minimize the veggie allowance for this dish so that I can have more "noodles"
Onion and garlic, finely chopped --- but honestly, if you enjoy Enochi mushrooms, you can use powdered versions of these 2 ingredients so that it doesn't eat up the vegetable allowance
Dried herbs:  basil, oregano, parsley, chili
Salt  & pepper
Balsamic vinegar
Enochi mushrooms

Sautee minced beef with onions and garlic.  Make sure to stir it constantly so that it doesn't turn into a beef pattie :).  Add tomatoes and the rest of the vegetables, except the Enochi mushrooms.  Add some water to turn it into a sauce.  Toss in your dried herbs, salt and pepper and balsamic vinegar.  Let it all simmer.

While simmering, boil a pot of water.  Once boiling, dunk in you mushrooms.  Just blanch.  When the mushrooms are soft, drain and put on a plate.  Spoon over the meat sauce and here it is:

So here I am so proud of this dish.  Even J likes it.  I tell my mom about it and she says, "Spaghetti?  Akala ko ba bawal ang carbs sa dyeta mo."  So I tell her that I use Enochi mushrooms instead of noodles.  My mom of course says, "ang mahal naman niyan!  Where do you buy your mushrooms?"  So I proudly tell her that I get it in Landmark.  So she says, "gumising ka ng maaga bukas.  Dadalhin kita sa Cartimar."

So being the dutiful daughter that I am, I'm ready at 6:30 a.m. and we troop off to Cartimar.  True enough, all the expensive ingredients in the Cohen diet are available for less at Cartimar.

As usual, Mom, tama ka!  Ang swerte ko talaga!  Mommy always knows best :)!