Please put up your hand if you have heard the following around your dinner table:
"What's the green stuff?"
"Why is it lumpy?"
"What's in this?"
"What is THAT?"
"Is this all there is for dinner?"
"It looks weird!"
"It smells weird!"
"It tastes weird!"
"I don't like it" (before they've even tried it)
....shall I go on?
"What are the black specks?"
"Why is it touching my meat"
"I don't like tomato sauce, don't we have any ketchup?"
"I'm not hungry anymore....what are we having for dessert?"
"EWWWWW!"
I've got the sweats just thinking about it. We've all been there. You find a recipe you know your family will like, you make a trip to the market to lovingly hand pick all the ingredients, sweep your hair into a pony-tail, put on an apron and get cracking in the kitchen until your back is sore and you've burned your hand twice...BUT...you call your be-loveds to the table in a sing-song-y voice and as you are gracefully carrying out your masterpiece with an excited and anticipatory smile you hear it...."I am NOT eating that!!!" When this happens I imagine myself as a balloon that is flying around the room as the air is rushing out and making that noise...you know the one.
It's tough to take. I would say that we eat pretty simply....I don't prepare exotic, gourmet meals that only someone with a truly refined palate could appreciate. I believe fresh is best and a well balanced diet are pretty key in keeping us healthy and energized but that's about it. However, there are times I have to take my cook hat off and slip into my salesman role, and failing that, I sometimes break out the fake nose and moustache disguise, put on a black body suit and dark glasses (not literally of course, that would be weird) and go into sneaky mode.... my sister calls this being "Sneaky-McSneakerson". I'd have a T-shirt made but then I suppose that would defeat the point. Oh well. The following is a quick pasta sauce that I made but ate two ways. One - the straight up way served with whole wheat, cheese filled tortellini, and two - pureed in my Vitamix blender and tossed with a whole wheat fusili pasta. Same exact ingredients, but my boys seem to prefer it "blended", if you will - after all, they "don't like zucchini, onion and garlic". (Cue music from Mission Impossible) Sneaky-McSneakerson strikes again!
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| Straight Up! |
 |
| Blended... |
 |
| For me and Ryan... |
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| For the boys... |
- 10 - 12 Roma Tomatoes, chopped
- 1-28oz Can Whole Tomatoes
- 1 Large Onion, chopped
- 1-2 cloves Garlic, thinly sliced
- 2 ribs Celery, chopped
- 1-2 Yellow Zucchini, chopped
- 1 Red Bell Pepper, seeded and chopped
- 1 Handful fresh Basil Leaves, chopped
- Sea Salt
- Fresh Ground Black Pepper
- 2 Tbsp Butter
- In a large sauce pan, melt butter over med heat
- Add chopped onion and celery, cook until the onions soften and begin to look translucent in colour, approx 6 - 7 min
- Add sliced garlic and cook for additional minute
- Stir in chopped tomatoes, can of whole tomatoes in their juice, zucchini, bell pepper, chopped basil leaves and a sprinkle of salt and pepper
- Bring mixture to a boil and turn heat down to a simmer
- Simmer, stirring and tasting often until sauce begins to thicken a bit and flavours are well blended
- Season with salt and pepper
- Serve over your favourite pasta straight up, or puree in a blender first and then toss with pasta
*the pureed sauce freezes well in ice cube trays for an easy individual portion - this is great to have on hand when sending noodles in a thermos for lunch
Enjoy!
xo
Jen
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