thrifty and quick: bowtie pasta with prosciutto & peas

First off, I want to thank everyone who came out to the craft fair on Sunday. Sure, I'm aware of how many people read my blog thanks to stats counters, but seeing so many of you come out for a visit was amazing. Thank you! But now, onto the food! I made this as a super quick lunch idea. I had half a package of pasta, some frozen peas, a tiny chunk of prosciutto and some parmesan and before I knew it, I had 2 large heaping bowls of food ready for my husband and I. It was delicious and deceptively simple to prepare. It also cost next to nothing.

I never really breakdown food costs, but I can imagine this meal costing about $1.50 in total for both bowls. I'm the first to admit that math isn't my strong suit, but here's how I came to that figure. Ages ago, I bought a wedge of organic parmesan for $8 and I used my fingers to specify how much I wanted to the old Italian guy at the counter and still am grating away at it. Really, I have no idea if I grated 25 cents worth of parmesan onto my pasta, but it seems about right! I bought the prosciutto as a "meat end" at the deli counter and it was a small hunk priced at $1. I was able to use that peice of meat for 4 meals, so that's another quarter right there. Organic pasta is $1.50 a bag at my local grocer, so half that is easy to figure out. As for the peas and half n' half, it's a wild guess. The 750 g bag cost $3 so my handful of peas probably works out to mere nickles and I can't even remember how much my 1L container of half and half cost me. I know this $1.50 cost breakdown is pretty crunky! I'm no math wiz so you'll just have to get by with my less than shoddy accounting.

But really, who wants numbers anyway, this is lunch! And it's a delicious one at that. Cornelius was bummed that he couldn't have seconds (and truth be told, so was I). It was quick, it was tasty and it was budget concious. Yum.

bowtie pasta with prosciutto & peas
250 g bowtie pasta
3 T prosciutto
1/3 c frozen peas
2 T half & half
2 T grated parmesan cheese
pepper to taste

Cook up pasta the usual way. When the pasta is about 2 minutes close to being done, add in the peas. Cook for the remaining 2 minutes. Drain most of the pasta water out of the pot. Add in the prosciutto, half & half and the parmesan. Add pepper to taste. Serve in 2 large bowls. Lick bowls if necessary.