This one’s a lesson in data preservation… I’ve been saving my favorite recipes to a Pinterest board over the years, many of which came from the various meal subscription boxes I tried. Well, at some point Plated took down the spaghetti recipe that I’d been using. Poof. 404. Spaghetti Not Found. 

Luckily I found screenshots I’d taken for a trip where we wouldn’t have internet. Phew! But that’s a really tedious way to store and use a recipe, so I’m finally writing it down and sharing it with you lovely people! And learn from my fail… make a backup of anything you can’t live without, even if it’s just great spaghetti

P.S. Sometimes I’ll buy spaghetti by the pound and still cook up the whole thing. I just set some aside and toss it with butter for the kids since they’re not into red sauce right now.

P.P.S. I recently made this with Banza chickpea spaghetti and, while the texture is a little different, I think it’s good enough it to keep pasta on the menu while on a diet!

Ingredients

• 8oz spaghetti noodles
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 yellow onion
• 1 clove garlic (or more to taste)
• ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 pint of cherry/grape tomatoes, halved OR 1 can diced tomatoes
• 2 sprigs of basil (divided use)
• 2 Tbsp white wine
• ½ tsp sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• pepper to taste
• 4 oz fresh mozzarella
• 1/4 cup grated or shredded parmesan

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Peel, halve, and thinly slice onion. Mince garlic.
2. Boil the spaghetti according to the package instructions, about 8 minutes. Reserve 1/2 cup of cooking water and drain.
3. In the same pot, heat 1 Tbsp of olive oil over medium heat and saute onions for 5 minutes, until translucent. Add crushed red pepper and garlic and cook a minute more.
4. Add wine, tomatoes, tomato puree, sugar, salt, pepper, and whole basil sprig to the pan and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer for 5-7 minutes, until sauce is reduced by half.
5. Remove basil sprig from tomato sauce and fold spaghetti noodles into the sauce, adding reserved cooking water. Stir in parmesan.
6. Plate the spaghetti and garnish with hand-torn mozzarella and basil.

Since I’m not obsessed with PSL and nobody in my house is going back to school, autumn is more about crisp air, the smell of leaves, and fall veggies from the farm. That means savory, buttery squash, and crispy, crunchy pumpkin seeds!

Every year I have the best intentions of saving up all our squash/pumpkin seeds and roasting them all up at once, but they sit in a container in the fridge and getting sad and moldy. Very disappointing. I mean, there will be free protein (12g per cup of seeds!) showing up in my CSA box almost every week now, if I just do something about it!

So tonight I combined these two easy recipes and made it happen. This is more about building a sustainable habit than creating a new dish.

The thing about roasting squash is that it takes forever. (45 minutes is a lot when you’re hungry… Don’t judge me ) But that gives you the perfect time to clean up the seeds you’ve scooped out, give them a boil on the stove, and then stick them in with the squash for the last half hour (leaving you just enough time to throw together this chili )

Lately I’m having some variation on this salad for lunch and roasted squash seeds are going to be the perfect seasonal substitute for chopped walnuts!

The butternut squash I made tonight made a nice little handful of seeds that cooked quickly and is a single serving. No more moldy raw seeds and no giant tub of roasted seeds that I binge on and get all salty and bloated.

So what’s your favorite fall feeling?

Ingredients

• 1 squash
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• butter (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Slice the squash in half and scoop the guts into a bowl.
3. Spray or drizzle both halves of squash with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. (This technique is best for hard to peel squash like butternut and acorn, but feel free to peel and dice your squash instead! Just be aware it will probably cook faster.)
4. Place cut-side down on a baking sheet and pour about 1/2 cup of water in.
5. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until tender.
6. While the squash bakes, pick the seeds out of the squash goo and into a small sauce pan. Make sure to get them really good and clean.
7. Cover with water, add a teaspoon of salt, and bring to a boil.
8. Simmer for 10 minutes.
9. Drain seeds, toss with a teaspoon of olive oil and some salt, and spread them out on another baking sheet.
10. When your squash is done, reduce the oven to 325 degrees
11. Bake seeds for 20-30 minutes, tossing every 10 or so to prevent them from getting to dark.
12. While the seeds bake, scoop the squash out of its skin, mash, and serve (with optional butter on top)!

My Grandma Alice was a pretty special lady. She taught me to sew when the ears were coming off of my velveteen rabbit. She started teaching me to crochet, but I was pretty well occupied by straight stitching an entire ball of yarn, so we never got around to the rest. She kept a Game Boy Color at her house for my cousins and I, giving me my first access to video games. She was gossipy and stubborn and a hell of a hard worker. And she loved me unconditionally. Like the Platonic Ideal of grandmotherly love. #GrandmaGoals

When a matriarch like that passes on, her descendants remember her with love, often in the kitchen. My aunt makes her gorgeous, pink, peppermint angel food cake. I make these cookies.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3 sticks softened butter
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 large boxes Jello Instant Vanilla Pudding mix
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. In one large bowl, mix together butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.
2. In another large bowl, mix flour, pudding mix, baking soda, and chocolate chips.
3. Gradually add flour mixture to sugar mixture until incorporated. You may need to knead with your hands towards the end.
4. Form slightly lumpy dough balls on your cookie sheets. (As opposed to rolled into smooth balls, but that’s personal preference.)
5. Bake at 350 degrees 10 minutes, letting sit on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack

This tangy salad is one of my two favorite ways to use kale (the other being this spaghetti recipe by chef Curtis Stone) and was inspired by a salad I had at Featherstone Farm‘s annual strawberry social. I think I went back for seconds AND thirds!

I’ve toyed with adding purslane, plantain, and dandelion leaves from my yard in the past (you might see some in the pictures), but these days I’m just not bothering with that. If I’m really feeling lazy or don’t have raisins, I’ll skip step 1 and just toss 1 tablespoon of vinegar in with the rest of the ingredients.

Life happens, and life got low there for a bit. But I called in the reinforcements (grandparents) and have been crawling out of the hole. But what does that mean? How do you take care of yourself when you have messages like this reinforcing your bad habits?

1. Screens off, trying to sleep by 10pm. Can’t sleep? Read a book. Read e-books? Invert your screen to white on black. Don’t sabotage your melatonin production by shoving blue light into your eyes. There’s a significant connection between sleep and mental health. This is the way.
2. No more than 1 caffeinated or alcoholic beverages in an average day. That sound strict, but that’s a baseline. It’s too easy to make a habit of 2 coffees just to function and a glass of wine while cooking and another one with dinner and a nightcap while we’re at it. If I’m needing the extra pick me up, I’ll often grab a green tea latte. It may or may not be placebo effect, but I’ve heard that it’s a smoother caffeine hit and has mood boosting properties. YMMV, but any caffeine after noon has me tossing and turning all night, sabotaging rule number 1, and even 3 alcoholic drinks has me up at 4 AM catching up on all the anxiety I had silenced the night before.
3. Drink your water. I’ve been pregnant or nursing for about 4 years straight and my water habit is well established, but it really helps to get yourself a water bottle you love and fill it at least 3 times a day. I’ve started decorating mine with stickers and it goes with me everywhere.
4. Find healthy ways to treat yourself! I drink La Croix, and snack on raspberries, an apple, or a handful of almonds. Not only do they a positive impact on my health, but they’re keeping me from reaching for treats that are high in sugar, caffeine, or alcohol.
5. Take a walk. 10,000 steps is a good goal, but if you’re struggling to get out of bed, that might be too intimidating. Start with 5000 if it feels more doable, or forget the step goal and just try for a walk around the block. You might feel up for more once you get going. And if you have to dump the kids in the stroller with no shoes or pants, THAT’S OK! They might be happier to get a change of scenery and motion too. And that extra shot of vitamin D won’t hurt either. (By the way, if you don’t have a pedometer or smart watch, apps like Google Fit will track using your smartphone in your pocket.)
6. Meditate. I’ve been using Plum Valley app. It’s full of recordings from Buddhist monastics under the guidance of Thich Nhat Hanh. And they’re all free, which was one beef I had with other apps like Calm and Headspace.
7. Medicate. Whatever your healthcare provider has told you, do that. Obviously. But even if you don’t have any prescriptions, I’ve found that taking my vitamins regularly is a really easy box to check in my self care routine. Specifically, vitamin D and Omega-3s are highly recommended to boost mood. I literally put “Magic happy pills” on my daily to-do list. It’ll make me smile, if nothing else.

I’m not always good at sticking to these rules, but when it’s hard to put one foot in front of another, it really helps to know Past-Me cared enough to put this silly little list together to get me through the crappy days.

Oh hey! Another chickpea recipe! I seriously buy cans of chickpeas, black beans, and tomatoes by the dozen at Costco. They’re organic and the cans are BPA-free, if you’re into that kind of thing. I’m more into the non-perishable staples in my pantry at any given moment thing and I got real tired of watching fresh tomatoes turn bad on my counter because I didn’t plan accordingly. But anyway, on to the enchiladas!

This is my own little twist on Vegan Protein Monster Enchiladas. Specifically, we love cheese and the thought of fighting with rolling tortillas full of goo infuriates me, so I never bothered and layered it like a casserole instead. BOOM. Also in the interest of ease and sanity, I’ve been leaning heavily on bottled sauces like Trader Joe’s Enchilada Sauce (or simmering a bunch of autumn veggies in their Thai Red Curry Sauce, but that’s a recipe for a different day.)

This usually feeds us for two days, but my bigger casserole dish went missing, so last time I made it in a 9×9 pan instead and served the extra filling with chilaquiles in the morning! I’m not even mad

When I first stayed home after the birth of my daughter I got a little cabin fever, so in the morning I would search for something to get out and do with the kids. By the time I found something and got us all ready, it was nearly nap time. Eventually I worked up to putting something on the calendar every day of the week. I didn’t have to actually DO the thing, but it was there to save me the decision fatigue when I just had to get out of the house. (If you’re on the other end of the spectrum and want ALL the options, check out Family Fun Twin Cities events calendar.)

For a good long while, it worked! We were out and about almost every morning and Jack would fall asleep in the car on the way home at noon, transferring beautifully into his big afternoon nap. Hooray! Robin would nap and nurse in the Ergo carrier, so that became the rhythm of our days!

Unfortunately pants and shoes are a big battle these days, so we haven’t been getting out as much and man, do I feel the difference. I had the “I need more help” talk with my husband and agreed that if the kids were awake when he was, he’d try to do half of the feeding and dressing, so it’s been getting better. Honestly, I think I thrive on routines more than my kids do. Jack would be content to dig in the backyard with no pants or shoes any day of the week.

I told him bottoms are required to go outside, and he chose a purple tutu over pants of any kind

Every weekday at 10am – Free Forest School-Twin Cities

This loosely structured play group meets every weekday at various parks in the Twin Cities, so if you’re craving some fresh air and low key companionship, this is a lovely option. Just be sure to fill out the waiver beforehand.

Here are some other free options throughout the week:

Monday at 10:30am – Tail Time at the Wild Rumpus

In 2017 they won Publisher’s Weekly’s Bookstore of the Year! Get there early to find parking, seating, and mingle with other grownups. Heather leads a great story time with songs and movement between books. My busy little guy doesn’t often sit still throughout, so we end up wandering around and checking out the various store pets. That’s right! Cats, chickens, ferrets, pigeons, you name it! Check out Great Harvest Bread Co. or Dunn Brothers which are both kid friendly and within a couple blocks of the bookstore.

 

Enjoying the kids’ corner at Dunn Bros

Tuesday at 10 and 11am – Toddler Tuesdays at the Mall of America
Entertainment at 10 and 11, kids eat free at many fast food and sit down restaurants, and if you want to make a whole day of it, you can play at the Lego store, do art, climbing, and dancing at the Crayola Experience, or walk through the Sea Life aquarium. I prefer Crayola over the aquarium because of its open layout and variety of activities. Sea Life costs more and is very linear. There have been several times where I missed the nap window with Jack so we spent the day, had Daddy meet us for dinner, and then he’d pass out in the car on the way home. Bonus!

Wednesday at 10:30am – Wee Wednesdays at Midtown Global Market

Rotating musical guests every week including the Roe Family Singers and Papa Siama and Auntie Dallas (pictured below). There’s also a modest play area in the southwest corner, not to mention a huge variety of food. The veggie burrito at Taco Cat is my personal fav, but I’ve also had delicious elotes at Los Ocampo and great sweets at Café Finspång near the bathrooms. Fair warning, I was totally overstimulated the first couple times I went and Jack loved booking it through the corridors, so I learned to keep him strapped into the stroller or just wear Robin until I got more comfortable.

Thursday – Little Explorers at Como Zoo

This one is indoors in the winter and this year they started offering it outside in the summer as well! They offer themed activity stations, story time, and sometimes an animal visitor! If my kids aren’t feeling the activities, the rest of the zoo is still at your disposal, in addition to the indoor gardens.

Friday – ???

I don’t have a regular freebie this day, so it ends up being Forest School, sticking the kids in childcare while I go to yoga, or just hunkering down at home after a busy week. If you have any suggestions, let me know in the comments!

This originally started as a recipe from the Good Housekeeping Cookbook with lots of substitutions for simplicity — like canned chicken instead of ground turkey and pre-mixed seasoning. Well, I went to send it to my dad the other day and realized it’s basically unrecognizable from the book, and I love it! It’s won workplace chili contests and survived the move to (mostly) vegetarian and I’m pretty darn proud of it.

 

Seriously, this is the cheapest, laziest home cooked meal. It’s like $4 and totally portable. I doubled the recipe and cooked it while camping with my cousins in the North Woods. Great success!

Using the potato masher is the magic step that elevates this from being just a bowl of beans. It gives the whole thing this thick, creamy texture in a super short cook time.

You may not know this about me, but I hate wasting food. Or anything… I want to be a minimalist, but my little green heart struggles to throw things away. So when I open a carton of broth, I replace the original best-by date with my own date, two weeks from opening! No more questionable broth in the fridge getting chucked to be on the safe side!

 

This makes 3 servings at 270 calories each, but the kids aren’t interested in it these days, so lately I’ve been saving one serving for lunch and pairing it with a slice of this AMAZING bread from Sally’s Baking Addiction.

Enjoy! <3