Super Green Creamy Dreamy Pasta

This year I've been learning how to cook. Learning?!? Just this year?!? Yes, Adrian has always done all of the cooking... he insisted. Prior to his current job, there were occasions when I would attempt to cook something, but the results were either a disaster or would distress the refined palate of our household's primary food critic. However, when he is out of town, I am free to experiment a bit. That said, I still need to appease the shorter critics in the house — the shortest of which is quite picky.

Despite having had a year to work on this whole cooking thing, my recipe repertoire is still quite small. Other than the obvious, easy-peasy dishes, such as tacos or spaghetti and meatballs (frozen meatballs, not homemade), I've mastered meatloaf and Cheez-It chicken (sounds weird, but it's sooo delish). That's it. Just those two dishes. But not only do the critics here sing their praises, the short ones actually clear their plates, which is such a very rare occurrence in our house.

This week, Oo has been begging and begging to cook something. And so, with the primary critic away on business, it was safe to try something new. Following a recipe from Bean Appetit, a cookbook of fun, healthy recipes for kids, we made a pasta dish and gave it fun new name — Super Green Creamy Dreamy Pasta. We started by making a spinach pesto, which we mixed with cream cheese and milk and heated on the stove. We then stirred our sauce into a pot of spinach fusilli. Voila! So easy, the kids loved it, and Oo's urge to cook was satisfied. And I loved that it tricked Oo into consuming dairy and T into eating a veggie other than carrots or corn! As for Adrian, I think he will enjoy it too if I stir in a little proscuitto.

Here's a picture of Oo proudly showing off her delicious creation:


One more picture before I sign off. This morning I set up some train tracks at T's request, including a tunnel made from blocks that T always uses as the Time Tunnel from his favorite show, Dinosaur Train. I then took some pictures of T playing with a train because he's just so darn cute. T took a look at the pictures and decided that they weren't good enough ("too dark" or not good because he wasn't looking at the camera). He insisted that I take more pictures, each of which he scrutinized carefully. Below is a shot that passed inspection:


Well, so much for writing a shorter post. Perhaps next time I can reel it in a bit.