This is such an easy, healthy recipe for families! All four of my kids asked for seconds (or thirds) and, along with some fresh fruit, this perfectly fed our family of six (if you count the baby…I will need to double in a year!)

I hate reading through ten paragraphs to get to the recipe to see if I even like the ingredients. So here it is and the “story” comes after. You’re welcome. 🙂

Ingredients:

Pasta of choice, 1 lb.

Pesto Sauce (I prefer the refrigerated store-bought kind, but you could use the dry packet mix, frozen, or make your own!)

Red Pepper, 1 chopped

Yellow Pepper, 1 chopped

Carrots, 2-3 peeled and sliced OR a handful of baby carrots

Broccoli, 1-2 heads cut into bite sized pieces

Red Onion, 1 chopped

Garlic, 2-4 cloves, diced

Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper

Parmesan Cheese, shredded

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Wash and chop all vegetables into relatively uniform, bite-sized pieces. Toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper and spread in a single layer on a sheet pan. Roast veggies for about 10 min. Then “flip” veggies, add the diced garlic, sprinkling evenly over veggies, and roast another 10 minutes or until desired tenderness is reached.

Meanwhile, boil pasta according to directions. When finished cooking, drain pasta and mix in pesto sauce. When veggies are done, add to pasta/pesto and gently stir to combine. Serve with grated parmesan cheese.

 

So, like always, this recipe isn’t “exact” and it doesn’t have to be. You can use as many or few veggies as you desire. I found this amount to be a good ratio, but some families may need to start “small” with just one or two favorite vegetables that you know your kids will eat – and that’s fine! Or you might want to really load up on the veggies and that
would be great too! I found that my kids didn’t love the bigger chunks of red onion, so I may dice it more for next time. Turns out, they all loved the carrots best, so I’d definitely add some more in the future. Play around with it! The fun part of these vegetables for us was making a “rainbow” first, as you can see. Which reminds me – does anyone know any blue vegetables?!?!

Oh yes, my kids help in the kitchen – they often chop veggies for me. We have these knives and love them! In order to speed things up, I cut the peppers into strips, then my 6 year old chopped them into bite sized pieces. She also cut the baby carrots in half (probably wouldn’t bother with this in the future), and cut some of the broccoli; onions are all momma, they’ll eat them but don’t like the watery eyes (I agree!).

As for the pesto, I’m a big fan of the refrigerated kind they have at Costco. I used to make my own, pre-kids, but honestly just don’t have the time now. I also find it so easy to always have a jar (or two) of pesto in the fridge of freezer. We all love pesto, so I used half a jar for this – really, it’s up to you and your preference.

This recipe is definitely going into the rotation! I’ll probably try some different vegetables occasionally – it would be a great way to try something “new” or to let the kids pick out the “rainbow”. I hope this works for your family – let me know!

 

 

I just sat down at the computer – the REAL computer, not my phone or iPad – to finally get back into blogging. Well, writing. I don’t really care about the blog part, I just like writing, getting things out of my head, it helps me feel sane. And a little connected. Anyway, I literally just sat down after doing ALL the chores I do during nap time…lunch dishes, switch the laundry and start a new load, picking up toys that made their way to the middle of the hallway (?), checking email, all the things associated with my “work” of running a food pantry, called the doctor back, cleaned up the crayon the dog ate…thought I’d have some time to write. Nope, the baby is stirring. Of course. He hasn’t started fussing yet, but he is awake. And this situation just about sums up what I was going to write about anyway – how I just haven’t had time to write! Life! Life is so wonderful and chaotic and beautiful and busy and the little things that shouldn’t take up all my time somehow do and I am absolutely certain that “they” are right, some day I will miss a lot of this…but I also think someday I will NOT miss all the little chores or the inability to sit and “relax” for a few minutes. Sure, I will miss my babies being babies and the snuggles and first steps and their sweet little voices, but I don’t think I’ll miss changing poop diapers or temper tantrums because I wouldn’t let them stick a toy into the electrical outlet. And while I am sure I will miss some of the hustle and bustle of a house full of kids, I hope I remember to appreciate the alone time whenever it does come.

So for now, my foray back into blogging will have to be short. But that’s ok, I learned a lesson today – write first, dishes later. 🙂