Spaghetti Racquet O's

So last weekend we returned from the grocery store with a bounty of vegetables, and I expected a whole slew of quick vegan recipes and for that matter time with Belle. Well, I had half of that. Every evening last week ended up busy for whatever reason, and my husband and I decided to focus on her rather than dinner.

On Sunday night, we made a roast chicken and roasted beet salad, with goat cheese for us, and with nothing else for Belle. She loved the beets, and ran around after dinner with red lips; though she was not at all interested in the chicken.

The next night my husband used the carcass of the chicken to make soup with cut up bucatini, tomato, shredded chicken and turkey Italian sausage. Yes, meat broth and meat. And this evening, our little friend decided, yum, I shall eat meat. The turkey sausage was a big hit. In fact, that is all she ate for dinner.

And, then the next evening, Ohio was trying to decide who was president. We took the baby with us so she could be part of the voting process. We were late to the voting precinct so we ate out. The children’s menu had mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, cheese pizza, and chicken fingers. So, it turned out the chicken fingers were the only thing on the menu without milk. I purchased then half expecting her to throw them my face. But to the contrary, they were again a hit.

The next night we ate rice noodle sautéed with kohlrabi, carrots, turnips, and cabbage. But, then the next night, we were late from work and on the way home grabbed some bread from the bakery. When we were there, there was a lovely pepperoni bread that my husband decided my father would enjoy. About halfway home, we heard such sincere expressions of joy from the backseat that I took a peak. Belle smiled back at me. Her face was smeared with pepperoni and tomato sauce. She had eaten ½ of the pepperoni loaf.

All my friends had said it. And, I hadn’t wanted to test it. But, here it comes out to be true. It is not meat that is a problem, just the fact that I hope for her to eat high quality, unprocessed meat. Alas, this was never a vegan food blog, but instead a way for me to remind myself what I made for Belle. I don’t see this blog turning into discussions of the best way to open a can of Chef Boyardee, but there might be more discussions on the best organic hot dogs, someday. Who knows? What I do know is Friday night, we made her spaghetti o’racquet using tomato paste, water, nutritional yeast, and turkey sausage. It was a major success, reminiscent of its processed original, and quite tasty.