fridge cleaner: twice cooked pasta

we've all been there.  the fridge is nearly empty, and, usually out of sheer laziness, we have to just make something from what's left.

luckily i had some decent ingredients -- six to be exact: ground beef, cottage cheese, pasta, hot sauce, garlic and olive oil.  and salt, pepper and various herbs and spices, of course.

probably the first pasta dish i learned to make was my parents' "twice-cooked pasta."  basically you make pasta, then pan fry it in olive oil and garlic.  that's exactly what i did; except i cooked the ground beef first, added garlic, then fried the pasta in the mixture. delicious.

i was about to eat it when i got a brilliant idea.  i love cottage cheese on a warm omelette in the morning, which is usually what i make if i just have a variety of random items in the fridge, so why not on my pasta?  then, as i usually do with the omelette, topped it with some hot sauce -- in this case, chipotle tabasco.

it was actually quite good.  very good.  i would, and will, make it again, even when i have other options in my fridge.