spaghetti sauce and social studies

So I left Sunday blank on the plan and ended up asking everybody what they wanted for dinner: “Tacos! Calzone! White Macaroni!” came the usual refrain. Hubby threw in the CrockPot lasagne for good measure, knowing it’s simple. Yet, one by one I picked them off as an expert duck hunter through the reeds. I wasn’t in the mood to make any of that.

“What about spaghetti?” my daughter chimed. Now this, this was do-able. Not too much work, but warm and inviting on a 16-degree day. Perfect. Sometimes asking for help gets you something you didn’t expect … actual HeLp! You moms understand. So I put some notes on the erasable marker calendar. Half of their ideas were already on the plan, the other half went into the margins for when I change things over to February. See? Planning ahead. Then, when I made the spaghetti sauce, I did a little advance work pulling together a big batch of goodness over low heat on the stove.

Browned Ground beef
Petite Diced Tomatoes
Mushroom pieces and stems
A chopped onion sauteed with the beef
GaRLic … lots of GaRLic
Ground rosemary (because kids call the real stuff twigs!)
OrEgAnO … lots of OrEgAnO
Bay Leaves … two this time, but it depends
Sugar to cut the acidity
This day, about 4 15-oz cans of tomato sauce

There are no measurements. Mom can correct me, but I think I’ve been making this since I was about 12. Each of my brothers and I have our own take on Mom’s sauce, which, as she points out, makes them ours now, but these are the ingredients … along with low, slow heat.

After dinner last night I strained the sauce, reserving the meat and veggies with the noodles for leftovers night and freezing the herb-a-licious juicy part for next week. I’ll pull it out and use part of it for CrockPot lasagne. The rest will go into Friday Night Calzone. And so we come to yet another plan-ahead strategy for family mealtime:

Cook once. Eat twice … or more!

Getting a jump on some weeknight dinners was a great way to keep me close to the homework table yesterday. Besides, if I hadn’t been close by I might not be able to toss these interesting tidbits your way: The ExAcT height of Mt. Everest is 29,028 feet according to my daughter’s social studies book. And this thanks to the second-grader's work: The first-ever attempted assassination of an American president was in the Capitol Rotunda. When the assassin’s pistols BoTH misfired, President Andrew Jackson bludgeoned the man with his cane. Now there’s something you don’t read about every day!