Pumpkins and fevers and sisters, oh my!

This has been quite the weekend! Skyler came down with a fever on Thursday night, and has been off and on with it ever since. He missed school on Friday and his Harvest Night dance (which he is still convinced was magically moved to next Friday...no matter how many times I try to break the bad news). As of this morning (Sunday, Sunday...what song is that?) his fever has come down, but is slowly creeping up as the morning and activity level gets going.

Ashley was SuperAuntie yesterday! I called in a panic when I realized that Sky's temp was over 102 and I was out of all children's fever reducers. On top of that, water wasn't cutting it for the little guy and he was getting dehydrated. So I called on SuperAuntie, who quickly showed up with Tylenol, Motrin, Cherry 7Up, Sprite and Gatorade. To top it off, she brought over some amazing chili for dinner- making my life as the mom of little germ balls MUCH easier!

Alex has been toying with a fever, but has yet to get nearly as sick as Skyler has been. I'm hoping he'll pass on this round...

On Friday I got my vegetable bin from Organics To You (best way to get produce, ever!). It included a recipe that I tried, loved and just had to share! I've made some adjustments to it, based on my aversion to running to the store just to pick up one or two things and my desire to make it a bit healthier. Here it is. Enjoy! (And thank you, Organics To You, for the yummy recipe!)

Tagholini con la zucca (Pumpkin Pasta):

1 lb. fresh pasta or 1 box dried pasta (I used quinoa pasta, my favorite!)
3 lb. pumpkin (roasted and pureed)
4 Tbsp. butter, halved
1 leek, well chopped
1-2 sticks celery, well chopped
1 can low sodium chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste (I used about 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. pepper)
grated nutmeg to taste (I used 1/2 tsp.)
ground cinnamon to taste (I used 1 tsp.)
2/3 cup lowfat milk
4 oz. lowfat cream cheese
1 cup grated parmesan cheese

Roast the pumpkin. (To roast the pumpkin, put in the microwave for 2-3 minutes to soften skin. Then cut in to quarters, removing stringy fibers and seeds. Place on baking sheet, season with a little sea salt and fresh pepper, drizzle small amount of olive oil on it. Place in a 350 degree oven for approx. 45 minutes, or until a fork easily pushes in to the meaty part of the pumpkin. Once pumpkin is cooled, cut off skin and puree in a food processor.)

Melt 2 Tbsp. butter on medium heat with leek and celery- about 5 minutes, or until celery is tender. Add pumpkin puree and enough chicken broth to keep mixture from drying out. Cover and simmer for approx. 10 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding broth if needed to keep moist. Add salt, pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg. Pour mixture into food processor and puree. Put back in pan on low heat to keep warm.

Cook pasta according to directions. Add any unused chicken broth to water to flavor the pasta. Drain pasta and return to pan. Add remaining 2 Tbsp. butter to milk, melt in microwave. Pour milk/butter mixture, cream cheese and parmesan cheese in to hot pasta, allow to melt. Add pumpkin puree mixture, mix well.

Serve alone or topped with chicken!

Thank you, cousin Laura!

Tonight was Spaghetti Night with Ashley and Brian. I was so excited to use Laura's marinara recipe she shared with me, and I was not disappointed! Here it is:

Fresh Red Pepper Marinara Sauce- Created by somewhere on the net, perfected by Laura!

-2 (28oz) cans whole peeled tomatoes (Laura used one can of chopped tomatoes, drained - I'm not a big chunky tomato person, and it worked wonderfully)
-1 (6oz) can tomato paste (Laura used two small cans tomato sauce)
-1 1/2 teaspoons salt
-1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (Laura used a bit more, love spicy)
-1/2 tsp sugar
-1/4 cup chopped fresh basil (Laura used dried basil, a bit less than 1/4 c.)
-1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
-1/4 cup olive oil
-1/2 chopped onions
-4 cloves garlic, minced
-2 red bell peppers, seeded, diced into about 1/4" pieces

In mixing bowl, (if using whole tomatoes) crush with fingers to form a course puree. Add the tomato paste, salt, pepper flakes, sugar, basil, and parsley. Stir and set aside.

In large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat and add the onions. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring, until onions begin to soften. Add the garlic and sautee for two minutes (do not brown garlic). Add the tomato mixture, and simmer over medium-low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occassionally. Add bell peppers, simmer until the peppers are tender. Taste and adjust seasoning.

This sauce was awesome. It was easy, and it made a LOT! Had we not had Ash & Brian over, I could have easily used 1/2 the noodles and frozen 1/2 the sauce for later.

The only modifications I made were: I used 2 28 oz. cans of chopped Italian flavored stewed tomatoes, doubled the fresh chopped basil, and added 1/2 cup of red wine. I threw everything but the onion and garlic into my food processor to make it nice and smooth before I added it to the pan.

To go with the spaghetti, I used Giada De Laurentis' Mini Turkey Meatballs recipe to add protein:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/mini-turkey-meatballs-recipe/index.html

I LOVE spaghetti night!