MommyTLC

Last night I had every intention of making delicious braised short ribs over mashed potatoes when I realized that I forgot to buy the celery I needed for the mirepoix (onions, carrots & celery) for the short ribs.  Although I could have still made it, it just wouldn't have been the same.  So I put my short ribs back the in fridge to use another night and thought about what else I could make.  It's funny how even with a fully stocked refrigerator, I still find myself standing there unsure of what to make.  I was tired of the usual ground beef dishes I usually go for like meatballs and lasagna, and I had exhausted my taste for chicken with roasted chicken and asparagus the night before and a chicken and bleu cheese salad for lunch.  I wanted something different, something I hadn't had in a long time.  Then it hit me!  I remembered a conversation my hubby and I had a few weeks back about how he wanted to make some of the old recipes his mom used to make all the time like cabbage and corned beef, BLT's, and his favorite Shepard's pie.

After a long day at work, coming home to a no-so-clean kitchen and an empty fridge that was practically screaming "please stock me!" with no mode of transportation to the nearest supermarket, I was faced with the dilemma of having to concoct some edible meal with the contents of my refrigerator.  I managed to find some frozen pasta samples that my husband had brought home from work (being that he works in a restaurant, vendors are always bringing him samples of new products that generally end up in our refrigerator and tested in our kitchen, oh the perks of being in the restaurant business), about a pound of spicy chorizo and a bag of broccoli rabe.  Usually I would just put all these ingredients together, but since I was out of tomato sauce, I was drawing a blank on what to make.  After a little web surfing, I came across this recipe and decided to give it a try with a few substitutions: