Is pasta a student's best friend in the kitchen? Definitely! No offense for the yummy macaroni & cheese Kraft Dinner, but you gotta get a little more creative sometimes. Here's my humble creation:

What you need:

750 gr lean ground beef or an equal amount of veggie ground beef alternative
2 long celery stalks (makes about 1.5 cups chopped)
1 medium onion
1 carrot
1 red bell pepper
400 gr white mushrooms
2 cloves of garlic
Tomato paste
Salt, pepper, basil, thyme, parsley flakes

How to:

Put the ground beef, chopped onions, chooped celery stalks and chopped carrots in a large cooking pan. Cook on medium heat for about 5-6 mins, add the chopped red pepper. Put the lid on and cook untill all the ingredients are softened (but still not completely soft), finally add chopped mushrooms and pressed (or minced) garlic, mix in tomato paste (I like it with lots of tomato paste!), salt and pepper to taste, some parsley flakes, thyme and lots of basil. Cook covered for another 5 to 10 minutes after mixing in the mushrooms. If you use a veggie alternative instead of ground beef (which is the case in the picture), you need to start with some vegetable oil in the pan, cook all the vegetables as above and add the beef alternative together with the mushrooms. Yummy when you sprinkle with some parmesan cheese when serving...

Posted by: Elif