I mentioned this earlier this week but my lovely husband decided to take a vacation day so I could work on my upcoming e-course. What he didn’t realize is what he was committing to. You see, on a normal day I am a stay-at-home mom/ food blogger / nutritionist / baby-sitter to my cute little nephew. It’s a lot. Well let me re-state that, watching three kids (two being mine own) IS A LOT! I really don’t know how babysitters do it, talk about love and probably the hardest job on the face of the Earth. WOW! They are exhausting, challenging but cute all at the same time. So you can guarantee I was thrilled to see how the day was going to go for my hubby (who has never had to watch all three, rarely has to watch two at the same time) as he became the stay-at-home-dad for the day.
I thought about heading to the library to work but thought I should stick fairly close in case things got a little chaotic….and as you can imagine it happened. Now, I must say they were probably a little off because they are used to me being there and the routine I had set. But I did have many good laughs as I hear frustrations, things being spilt, crying, fighting, laughing all coming from the other room. I think he gets it, the life of a mom is not an easy one.
Finally, around lunch and probably the fourth dirty diaper (number 2 that is) of the day he called in my help to get lunch. When kids are hungry, they are hungry NOW and generally there is no waiting because just on the other side of lunch is nap time and we don’t mess with nap time around here. Earlier in the morning he had used my new spiral vegetable slicer which is pretty amazing at making the most perfect noodles out of vegetables. He had even dehydrated them in the oven for me. That’s when I came in and helped finish up this beauty. Cheesy zucchini pasta bake. It isn’t as challenging as you think, just a quick as boiling noodles. Seriously, you have to get one of those slicers, I see lots of “pasta” in our future which means lots of added vegetables!
Mix all the ingredients together with some fresh mozzarella cheese on top and bake it until bubbling. After many years of Italian food loving and then giving it up for a time (because Italian food is hard to replicate being grain-free) this was through.the.roof! Definitely up there as one of our easiest week-night meals. You may be wondering what happened with the rest of our day. Well I think this meal was refreshing for him. After lunch I helped lay the two little ones down for their nap so all he had was one…for a little while. It was all good until they woke up from their naps, hungry, groggy and soggy. More diaper changes, food spilling, crying and fighting and he was finished. After multiple sighs I let him retire at 3:30 to head outside. I must say, he did good and now he can never complain about his job, ever.
I always tell him that yes I am my own boss but I can’t fire my employees no matter how many times they mess up or make me mad. But they are cute and sometimes all you need to get through the day is a toothless smile, a giggle and a love (or sloppy as we call them). He survived to see another day and he was up early the next morning headed to work…I don’t know if he will volunteer for that job again. Although the next day I received notification that he bought me a subscription to a food magazine I have been eyeing, my sympathy present! You really did do great babe! And thanks for the gift!
- 1 Large Zucchini per person
- Sea Salt
- 1 lb Grass Fed Sausage
- Your favorite spaghetti sauce
- Mozzarella Cheese
- Fresh Basil for topping
- Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees
- Wash and peel your zucchini
- Run zucchini through a spiral slicer to create "noodles"
- Line a cookie sheet with paper towels
- Place zucchini "noodles" on top of paper towels and crack sea salt on top
- Place noodles in the oven
- Cook the noodles for about 30 minutes to remove the moisture
- Remove the noodles from the pan and pat dry with more paper towels
- Increase oven temperature to 350 degrees and allow to pre-heat
- While noodles are cooking, brown your sausage
- Once noodles and sausage are finished, combine your pasta sauce, noodles and sausage in your favorite oven-safe dish. Use as much pasta sauce as you like, depending on preferences.
- Top with mozarella cheese and place in oven
- Cook until cheese on top is melted and bubbling up.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.
- Top with fresh basil and serve.