Pizza Chili, El Cheapo Soup, and Other Weapons Against the Pizza Guy

Apparently, I’m not a food stylist. Yet I am compelled to brag about this incredibly good soup, so well-loved in this house and yet so THRIFTY.

Here are the ingredients:

Leftover roast from Sunday’s pot roast

Leftover hamburger from Friday’s spaghetti

Leftover salsa from Saturday’s salsa and chips

3/4 of an opened carton of beef broth

Can of tomato soup, collecting dust in the back of the pantry

A third of a box of macaroni

A splash of Worcester sauce

A splash of soy sauce

A glop of sour cream

A dusting of dill

Truly, a sublime soup, flung together with ingredients on hand, all parts of other meals that became a meal from their sum. We really would have been hard pressed to slap together a real meal from the leftover meats, which is when I start feeling soupy, EL CHEAPO soupy!

We saved about $23, too, on a pizza call. Saved from the Pizza Man! What a great feeling!

Along the same lines:

Often when I’m grocery shopping, I snag a jar of pizza sauce and a package of pepperoni, especially if these items are on sale. Usually, I have plenty of hamburger on hand from my Amish farmer Atlee, from whom we usually buy a portion of a cow every few months. I also tend to have a can or two of beans lurking in the pantry, and maybe a can of stewed tomatoes.

Here’s what I’m getting at:

PIZZA CHILI

This grand recipe is from one of my favorite blogs, My Year of Slow Cooking, by the brilliant, funny, and talented Stephanie O Dea. If I have the bare bones chili ingredients on hand, I make it special by pouring a jar of pizza sauce and dumping the package of pepperoni in the pot. I’ve made it in a pot and in a crock pot; works beautifully either way.

Somehow this recipe scratches the pizza itch without actually buying a pizza. It’s great for a Friday night when you really have a hankering for pizza but you’d rather KEEP that $23 (I can’t abide $5 cardboard pizza, can you?)

If you have shredded cheese lying around, even better. The whole family loves this and again, it works like a charm against the urge to call the pizza guy!

What are your favorite Friday night go-to’s NOT involving dialing P. Hut or similar pie purveyor?

And apropos of nothing, except MSOTA of course…here’s a photo or two from my last visit to Amish friends in late summer: