Healthy Pasta Your Kids Will Actually Eat!

I LOVE pasta, but let's face it, it is rarely ever a good choice in terms of calories and nutrition. Typically, it's high in one and low in the other. And while I can't make pasta have any less calories, I can certainly add so much nutrition to the sauce that the calorie content is less of a concern. Sort of a "the good outweighs the bad" kind of thing. That's typically my mission. If something is high in calories and/or fat, I try to amp up the nutrition, so at least I am getting good with bad. With my kids I am less concerned with calorie content, but highly concerned with nutrition. If your kids are at healthy weights and have mostly healthy diets, calories are less of a concern. Growing bodies need calories and fat, they just need them from a variety of nutritious sources!






So in an effort to make spaghetti, chicken parmesean, tortellinis, and a whole host of other pasta dishes my children LOVE, a choice for a meal I can feel good about, I have turned plain ole pasta sauce into a vegetable filled wonder your kids will love too!! It all starts with a lot of love, a little motivation, and a smidge of deceit. Yes, yes, as mothers it is our DUTY to deceive our children from time to time. THIS is one of those times!

It starts with a few basic ingredients: Noodles of your choosing, but go for the whole wheat ones, or even a mixture of half white, half whole wheat if you think your kids (or you) don't like whole wheat noodles. Then pasta sauce of your choosing. Yes, yes, I know, high in sodium, but I have a real problem with canned tomatoes, and kid's prefer canned sauce, so for us, a small glass jar of Prego is my choice. I prefer Prego because the ingredient list is pretty short, and no HFCS! You'll only need a small jar because the vegetables you are about to add will make it all saucy. And don't throw away that jar!! Olive oil, your choice of meat, three bell peppers (you choose the colors, I use one red, one green, one orange), half a sweet onion, mushrooms, and your choice of a squash (I prefer zucchini, but butternut is a good choice too!). And whatever pasta cheeses you like, of course!



Start cutting vegetables and dump them all into the large pot you are going to be making your sauce in. Mix it up, cut 'em whatever size you'd prefer to eat, because it won't matter (deceit, remember, we'll be employing it later). I do cut mine pretty small to reduce cook time. Dump the sauce on top and simmer with a lid. It takes a good while, but you'll have a nice sauce when it's done. I don't even add any seasoning because it isn't necessary. It's done when all your veges are soft.


Here is the vegetables and Prego mixed together and covered to simmer.


Here it is about 20 minutes later. See? Saucy.


While the sauce is cooking, I prepare my meat. Usually it is just ground meat (we eat mostly venison, but turkey, chicken, or beef are fine) for us, but sometimes I cut some chicken breasts for some chicken parmesean, which is what I've done for the purpose of this blog (just coincidence). I battered them in some whole wheat italian bread crumbs and browned them in some olive oil. With ground meat, you won't need the olive oil. Once the meat is cooked, you can add it to your sauce. For the chicken, I just lay it on top later, so no need to add. You also, obviously, don't NEED the meat. We just like it better with meat, but that is totally a choice. This sauce is just as good without anything else.



Once your sauce is done, break out the blender!!! You read that right, break out your blender. It is time to deceive your precious offspring. First off, that jar I insisted you keep, be sure to leave it out on the counter somewhere. Now, I'm not saying you should tell them your sauce is purely Prego, but if they assume, who are you to change their assumptions? :) Dump or spoon your sauce into the blender. (I LOVE this sauce so much, so I always save some the way that it is, because my husband and I love eating it unblended.) Blend it up and serve it up. It's also great leftover, so if you have way too much, freeze half for another day :)



Top with some cheese, and they'll never know. You may even hear a, "Mom, this is the best spaghetti you ever made!" I've heard it many times!! That tastes better than the sauce, I promise :)

I love my boys, but I hate their room.

I mean, really, really, really hate their room. I tried painting the walls before, but the room is so small and there is not one, but two, boys living in there!! It felt so tight and cramped, that it just seems like white is the way to go. I could choose something really light, I guess, but light colors don't exactly say "boy" to me. So, white just seems like the obvious choice. That means, however, the walls need some life! Fortunately one is covered almost completely by the bunk bed. Unfortunately, the only place the bed makes sense is in front of the room's only window. So that looks totally stupid, but there is really nothing to be done about it, save losing lots of drawer space, and that CAN NOT happen. They need it ALL!!!

So those are a lot of obstacles to overcome, but I can honestly say I don't HATE their room anymore. And to make matters more awesome, they keep it pretty clean now. It took some major rearranging, and, of course also involved a playroom remake. So here are some befores, afters, and tricks I used to make the playroom and my boy's room places I don't absolutely abhor, and instead places that are nice, inviting, and will hopefully make someone else desperately want to buy my house down the road :)

I decided their closet, which was such a mess of shoes they rarely wear, needed a makeover too. I needed a place to store football stuff too, since they are playing year round now, we always have equipment, plus they need access to compression tops, shorts, tshirt, jerseys, and pads so I'm not having to locate them 5 minutes before it's time to leave. So I emptied the bookshelf and stuck it in there. Now all the shoes they rarely wear are in there, along with a shelf per boy for football stuff. Then the shoes they wear often have a place in the front, but it is only one pair per boy.



Shelves I made for under $30, my fav being the top shelf with their football pics and trophies. Thanks to friends who caught these awesome photos last season. And a third wall with more football awards and pics. My mom bought them those football player collages. I love them since filling them with cute pics from last season....that, again, I got from friends.









And the bed covering the window. I still don't love that situation, but it's what I have to work with, so....yeah.



The walls still need some work, so if you cute stuff you want to get rid of, message me, I'll send you my address. :)

BACKSPLASH!

It definitely deserves a shout out! So very much work. I thought this would be a 3 or 4 day project. Bawahaha! More like a 3 WEEK project. It drove me absolutely crazy being unfinished, so some days I promised myself I would NOT paint all day. Most of those days I followed through on my no painting for today promise. Other times, I failed to, didn't work out or pay any more attention to the kids than they absolutely demanded. So it totally become a family commitment even though I was the only one doing the actual painting. I thought I'd never finish, but it's done and I'm happy with the way most of it looks. Now I just need to decorate above the cabinets. That means I have to spend some time on Pinterest getting great ideas to copy. Here are the before and after photos.

Canvas Art - Not as easy as it looks

Well, I've finally finished painting the living room and most of the kitchen, with the exception of the backsplash, which is proving to be difficult. Straight lines on textured walls are difficult to come by, especially when you want those lines to be a mere quarter of an inch wide. Someone forgot to let The Home Depot know the importance of stocking painter's tape in quarter inch rolls just for me. So I've several other projects going at the same time because a girl gets bored watching paint dry, and if the mess is already made, well, it should be utilized. That, and my mantra has become, "Less Pinning, More Doing." So, I did.

Here is a canvas I painted. I just used the same colors of my kitchen and living areas, but I can't figure out where to hang it. I used Kaleb's hands and feet because they seemed to be the most correct size. In restrospect, Jaylan was probably the better muse, but I still like the way it turned out.

This was the other one. It looks a lot like a third grader did it, so that may be what I let people believe, if need be. This one is all my own, as in I thought it up myself. Next time I'll be sure and utilize a paint pen instead of a paint brush. I love the way Jaylan's hand turned out (in blue) and I love that mine had a smidgeon of paint from my wedding band that got on there. Otherwise, this will likely be a wall hanger somewhere it won't be seen often. It will look good on a brown wall, however. The little cut out with the heart says '12. I'd do my whole house in stuff like this if I thought people wouldn't laugh at me behind my back ;)


So, as it turns out, all that canvas art you see on Pinterest....it's not as easy as it looks. I keep promise pics of my house remodel via paint, and it's coming. I started the backsplash yesterday, so in two weeks or so, I ought to be done. sigh

My next DIY

Project: FAIL!

I even took pictures to post along the way. Bawahaha! What a joke! Turns out you have to sand or at least put that neato "you don't have to sand it first paint" paint in order to spray paint a table. So now, what was a well intentioned table, turned into a DIYer's lesson learned.

So I moved to THESE BEAUTIES!




Yeah, I so did that myself, and I'm pretty darn proud of them. So proud, in fact, I'm pretty sure I'm making some more in "the most fabulous for my bedroom" fabric I've ever seen!! I think I'm only super proud because I'm basically a self-taught seamstress. And I used the word "seamstress" as loosely as possible. In fact, I only use "seamstress" because I've no idea of a synonym for such a word....a synonym that, by it's use, indicates less....much less.... ability and talent. I did, once, ask a friend (with amazing talent) to come and teach me the basics of my mom's sewing machine. From there, I was on my own. And I can still only sew an almost straight line, but I've learned a few tricks (taught in probably ever home-ec class ever given....but I was a jock WAY too cool for home-ec......oh, if I'd have only known how useless basketball would be and how useful home-ec would have been!!) along the path of self-teaching. I did put forth a grand effort (which I rarely do), have some curtains in another room that I was able to reference and copy, and, as I've said before, I'm a great copier!

I still have yet to tackle the backsplash, but I've picked colors out, so I'm getting there. There are a few things I have to get off my "to-do" list before I feel like I can start that.

That last sentence is a foreshadowing to my boy's "Science Fair' projects. Pray for me because I'd like them to be THEIR'S so THEY can be proud, and it will take every ounce of self-restraint to HELP rather than to DO! Of course, if previous class projects are any indication, my desire to restrain myself from doing it for them is a far-cry from most of these parent's complete willingness to do their child's homework for them. I just want my child to feel accomplished at the end for something other than writing their name.

So apparently I love DIY

My new love for Pinterest has made me realize, I'm no blogger, I'm a DIYer!!! So DIY I will! My husband will lose his mind in the process of me decorating and redecorating every room, but I will decorate and redecorate like crazy....so we'll both be crazy together!

I thought I'd blog my DIY projects, most of all of which, I will be copying from something I saw on Pinterest. So don't go thinking I'm crafty or creative. Neither of those am I. However I am a genius copycat! My two most recent productions:

The first inspired by Pinterest and, "Mooooom, what is for dinner?" said by at least one if not three children almost every single day. My mom had me over for the weekend so I could clean and organize my dad's office. I figured this was a great way to score some junk for a couple of DIY projects. Turns out the joke was on me, because all I got was a bunch of sneezing, a runny nose, a nice dinner, a grateful mom, and this ugly old nicely framed picture of a drilling rig....of course that nice frame was 35 years old at least! Also perfect for this DIY project! Counting paint and those expensive little sticker letters, this redo cost me less than $10.




The second is the finale to Jeremy throwing out a frame I literally cried over. It was a big misunderstanding brought on by the fact that we both only about half listen to each other when the kids are awake. Ok, ok, it's really just me that only listens about 50%, he listens about 85%. Anyway, I'm not a sentimental person (much to my mother's dismay and repeated preaching about how I'll regret that one day.....whatever) so I don't typically get upset about broken, lost, or missing things. This frame, however, was special to me (ironically, it was given to me by someone I'm not particularly fond of, but that's another story). It has a verse on it that I liked, and it held the very first picture of my family of 5. With this particular verse, which became Georgia's, it was something that reminded me of trial and victory both at the same time. You know, just the way God turns your deepest hurt and sorrow into something beautiful and wonderful and you are all the better for it. It's a long story how that came to be, but the point is that frame, holding that picture was very important to me. The piece that made it stand up broke, and I asked Jeremy to try and fix it. It wasn't fixable, and he didn't know I would have kept it and figured out another way to use it, so he chucked it. I didn't realize this until a day or two later and it was gone, gone, gone by then :( I cried. I admit it. I wasn't even hormonal or anything. I cried about a thing. Pathetic, I know. I didn't even cry when I lost the diamond to my engagement ring, but I cried over this stupid frame. Perspective. Anyway, this was the remake. I had this shadow box frame, and this was the remake of that frame. It isn't the same, but it's almost as good, and honestly, MUCH better looking.



Yes, that is a diaper....a tiny little diaper I kept from the dozen or so I'd already bought for the baby we lost.

Next up: I paint the backsplash and start redoing my kitchen! Jeremy won't love the process, but he's starting to like the stuff I do...when it is finished....as if finished is ever possible ;)

A HAPPY day indeed!

Today is a celebration of a first and a last, for me. My baby girl is one today, and today is the LAST first birthday we will celebrate at our house. First birthdays are always such a time for me to remember my children's actual birth and that experience. I guess, perhaps, because I can still remember well what it was like to be pregnant, and how I felt during the time of their birth. By the second birthday most of that has become more of a cloudy memory, rather than a very clear one. And, perhaps, Georgia being my last, I will remember more vividly the details of her birth. That, and it was short and drug free, therefore there is less to remember and there isn't a narcotic induced haze over it.

As always, I can't believe it has already been a year. One year just goes by so quickly. Especially since I do love babies, especially my own, so very much. Babies are just awesome. Apparently, I've some insane love affair with being TOTALLY depended upon. I do love it though, however crazy it may be. I think I'd have babies over and over, if you know, I didn't have to be pregnant first and keep raising them afterward.

So Georgia. Yeah, she's walking, and finally sleeping through the night. She's raising hell during the day, so strong willed and DEMANDING of her way. About 50% of the time she is crying hysterically because her toy (or me)...or, rather, whatever object she's decided is a toy at the moment, isn't doing exactly what she wants it to do. It's rather amusing. She claps if she hears anyone clapping. Sometimes I turn on Wheel of Fortune just to watch her reaction. They do a rather lot of clapping on that show, and she has to drop everything she is doing to join the clapping. Again, amusing. She laughs if she hears anyone else laughing. We went to dinner last night and the table next to us was a group consuming alcohol and being rather obnoxious. Though we hardly noticed for the one year old at our table laughing hysterically because it seemed to her like that's what you were supposed to do. Again, it's amusing. Who can't be amused by a baby doing a forced laugh?

Today, also, I pretend to be a PTA Mom. Ugh. I'm dreading it, and relishing in the fact that after today, I'm a third of the way done pretending to be something I'm sooooo not. I don't know why I keep thinking just regular people do things like volunteer at the school to help with class parties and other things the teachers need. You have to be a certain kind of person for these activities. I really don't understand why, because I appreciate greatly the teachers at, especially, an elementary school. I'd like to show my appreciation by helping in some ways. But, alas, I'm not good at brown nosing and chuckling at things that aren't remotely funny, or talking in a super sweet, albeit totally fake, voice. And I'm really terrible at acting like something is the most pleasant thing I've ever enjoyed when it is really something I am merely enduring for the sake of someone else. Why can't these moms just act normal? I'm not saying they ought to act like what they are doing is miserable. In fact, one gets a certain amount of joy from being around a bunch of happy kids! Indeed. But just act happy. You needn't put on a show so that everyone in the world thinks you are Super Woman. No one is buying it, anyway. I'm just not, nor will I ever be a PTA Mom. But three days this year, I will put on my fake smile, throw in my fake laugh, and spend and inordinate amount of time worrying over and putting on a party for 22 first graders. Then, I will go back to just being a mom. An imperfect one. I will have to go back to merely expressing my appreciation and gratitude with cards and small gifts. Hopefully my children's teachers are accepting that those things are good enough and that, they too, do not have to endure yet another mom pretending to be perfect....and a whole lot of other things she really isn't.