perfect for a soft rainy day

The sounds* and smells of my house are so nice today.

Outside my cracked window....a light rainstorm. It's calling me to nap - I think I will after this. Val has been sick (or teething?), and between her and "preggo belly sleeping issues" I'm running on a lack of energy too. Plus I had to clean up the kitchen post dinner prep this morning. Ah yes - that explains the nice smell wafting in my house - "homemade" (still used some canned tomatoes) meaty spaghetti sauce (Thanks Arwen!).

Goodness...I didn't think prepping it to simmer all day would take most of my morning - but it did. Mostly because little Val was out of sorts. Poor baby! But my meal plan for tonight and tomorrow called for it, so I wanted to get it made. So I had to stir, snuggle, pour in, snuggle, chop up, DISTRACT, heat up, cuddle....and so on. I almost singed some of it too! ACK! Valiant was sadly screaming at times because I just could not hold her the whole time. So, bad meal planning with germs and or teething in the mix on mommy's part.

So, I'm ready for a nap. But wow, what a morning. Oh - let me share Arwen's recipe. I've made it before - VERY good (and I've made it with veggie crumbles too, skipping the real meat - but using faux meat and faux sausage). Our neighbor friend makes AMAZING homemade sauce - and uses wine. Any tips for how much wine to use? Maybe wine helps the taste become richer? Not sure. Anyways...this is good.

Arwen’s Family’s Spaghetti with Meat Sauce
makes enough to serve eight-ish

1 lb ground beef
1 lb pork sausage
2-3 medium onions, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
12oz can tomato paste
2 Tbsp dried oregano
2 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
2 bay leaves
28oz can diced tomatoes
28oz can crushed tomatoes
28oz can tomato sauce
salt to taste

1. In a 4-quart (or larger) pot over medium heat, cook meat with onions, breaking it up with a spoon, until the meat is browned through and the onions are soft and translucent. Drain fat.

2. Stir in garlic; cook one minute. Add tomato paste and stir until meat is coated; cook several minutes or until paste starts to darken slightly. Stir in oregano, basil, and crushed red pepper; cook one minute or until fragrant.

3. Add bay leaves, diced tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, and tomato sauce. Stir until thoroughly combined. Bring to a slow simmer and reduce heat to low. Simmer at least one hour.

4. Before serving, salt to taste.

5. Serve over hot spaghetti. Enjoy!

I also have veggies to steam up later, and whole grain french bread to turn into some garlic bread for dinner. It should feed us the next two days, and then we'll save some for the weekend.

Here are some pics - the longest I kept Val happy was opening the kitchen window so she could sit and watch the rain and listen to the raindrops. Whew! (I also had to transfer the sauce to the crockpot since we'll be in and out today, so stove simmering all day wouldn't be safe). I had to snap some pics. Otherwise she screamed a lot, and I'm sure our neighbors were wondering if she was being served up as the meal instead!

crossed arms...she wasn't too happy - but the distraction gave me .3 seconds more to chop or cook.

The mess of my kitchen I tackled. I couldn't get all my counters in the pic - they were covered.

Now I think I'll try a nap. Val woke up once during this post, I got her back to sleep. I hope working out later on actually works out LOL!! At least dinner is planned! I can cuddle then instead of cook!

* use of the word sound - sound meaning OUTSIDE the house with the rain...not the sad sounds of my little one when my cooking got in the way of her getting loved.