Poop. Literally.

Well today has been very informative for our science curriculum!  We found out today that the human baby can shoot poop about 18 inches across the room, all over the place.  Wonderful.  I honestly never wanted to know that, nor did I want to know that infant poop not only looks like mustard but also has the consistency of it.  And of course I tried to deflect the blow with my good white muslin swaddle blanket - which is now soaking in a bucket of oxyclean. 

Ayden of course was thrilled by the graphic pooping display as he sauntered over to hand me some wet cloth wipes.  Giggles errupted throughout the land as all the boys took turns ooooo-ing and awww-ing over the sheer amount of poop that was all over the floor and mama.  Only in a house full of boys I'll tell you!

So poop.  I hope the rest of the day goes better - lol.  Always an adventure over here.

The "innocent" face of the perpetrator...

Homeschoolers and Boy Mamas!!!

Attn: All mama's who homeschool!   AND all mama's of boys!!!

We have a giveaway over at my shop Brambles & Blossoms.  The link is here: https://www.facebook.com/#!/BramblesandBlossoms

It is for a custom waldorf doll from my shop, cloth diapers for your doll from EWies Diapers and a custom dolly & me set from my sisters shop The Handmade Princess.  You can get a custom super cape for your son and his boy doll you boy mamas! 

Check out my newest boy creation:

As a mama of 5 boys myself, I have a special place for boys of course!  This is my call to you!  You can enter a bonus entry (right now the max entry is 10) if you homeschool, AND another bonus entry if you are a mama of a boy!!!  In the "share my link" spot just write "I homeschool" or "I am a boy mama!"  That gives you the chance to get up to 12 entries!

Don't forget to check out some of my favorite blogs you mamas of boys/homeschoolers - https://www.facebook.com/#!/Boyschooling, https://www.facebook.com/#!/WarriorPrayers, https://www.facebook.com/HopeForTheWearyMom?sk=wall and https://www.facebook.com/TheMobSociety

And you mamas of girls - there is an awesome blog for you raising your daughters from a mama of 6 girls (and one boy - lol).  You can see her facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Raising-Godly-Daughters/346270212065174  She rocks! 

a lesson on eating with grace

Often times my children don't like what they are served.  It is not easy to please a large family!  Let me give you an example.  Today's breakfast was not as planned on my meal plan.  I ran out of eggs, making it impossible to serve oatmeal bars for breakfast.  So in the back of my pantry I found a box of Cream of Wheat.  My kids don't like cream of wheat.  I know they don't.  But that is what I had. 

If you see the recipe below, you will see that I did add some sweet homemade jam to make it taste good!  And it did - it tasted like strawberry ice cream!  BUT my kids don't like the texture.  Oh well.  They had to eat it anyway. 

Stop the bus... they HAD to eat it?  Really?  You made them eat it?

Yes.

I made them eat it. 

Yes, they made a face.

Yes they complained and even cried.

Yes one or more of them gagged on the texture.

Yes they had a shiver after swallowing. 

Yes.  They ate it.   All of it.  

And they ate it with a smile. 

You see, this was a lesson in learning to eat with grace.  I knew they wouldn't like it, they knew they wouldn't like it.  But I explained to them that eating with grace means eating with a smile and without a word even if they dislike it.  So they did.  They tried to smile after each bite to show me that they appreciated their meal.  You see, if they were a missionary in a far away village and they turned their noses up at something that would be very offensive!  They must learn to respect whoever made them their meal and try to eat it all with grace.

Morgan had the hardest time, but even he was able to finish all but one spoonful in his bowl.  Oaklen ate the last spoonful since after eating his bowl he realized that it wasn't so bad afterall.

Their memory verse from this lesson is from Philippians 2:14: "Do all things without murmurings and disputings".  They also learned a lesson in obedience - to obey their mama when she tells you to sit and eat happily.  I promise you, I will appreciate this lesson as they grow and learn to eat what they are given.  Other people will appreciate it too.  Nothing is worse that listening to a picky child whine at a dinner table or in a restaurant, unappreciative of the meal that they were given.  Especially when there are children in this world that look like this:

No, our children won't be the children who will only eat weiners and noodles.  Our children won't be excused from the table without eating.  Our children won't be ignorant to the fact that many children get nothing to eat.  For this we are thankful.   For this we refuse to back down and we will die on this mountain.  We want our children to be grateful for what they have in a world that takes everything for granted.

Sneaky Strawberries & Cream

This morning's breakfast is quick and simple.  Of course, it is also nutritious!! 

Here is what you need for Strawberries & Cream:

- 3 cups of water
- 1/2 cup cream of wheat
- 2 tbsp pureed zuchinni and cauliflower
- 2 tbsp strawberry jam

Cook your cream of wheat as per the box tells you.  Once ready, add your puree and your jam.  Cook an additional minute, serve!  This makes 4 child servings at about 3/4 cup.

This breakfast if fast, and has a veggie boost of zucchini and cauliflower as well as berries (try using homemade jam with reduced sugar!).  The cream of wheat has 30% of your iron intake as well as 1g of fiber and 3g of protein.  It is low in calories, so having the extra flavour boost of jam won't make the kids go too crazy - lol.

An optional puree you could use is white bean paste.  Either should work just fine!  Or you could make it chocolate flavour with cocoa instead of jam and use the pureed blueberries and spinach!  So many choices!

Enjoy!

You can't possibly want MORE????

Sometimes people are just so funny!  Our family appears large to many people.  I don't really think of us as that big since we know a lot of families in our homeschooling and friend circle that have as many as 10-12 kids!   That is a big family.  LOL. 

After gawking and counting our children in the most obvious way possible, most people ask, "you are done now right?".  Nothing is quite as awesome as their expression when we say that "what's one more?  we'll have at least one more".  They even get a nice big shock when Craig tells them that we homeschool them too.  It's like people can't believe that we would WANT to be around our kids all the time!   I love my kids!  I love to be around them!  I would have 20 - lol.  Craig maybe not so much.  He always tells me we will take it "one baby at a time"... 

Oh and we do know how babies are made - lol.  So I always tell people that maybe I should start washing Craig's and my underwear seperately...

A plea for help!

We just found out today that there is a family out there in need in the Barrhead area.  A single father has had a heart attack, and his younger children have been placed in foster care for now.  He does have a 16 and a 17 year old who are staying at home alone, having requested not to be placed in a foster home.  However, they are struggling for food.  They do not have food in the home and it seems that social services won't provide them vouchers for food since they are not in care.  So I am putting it out there that if anyone is able to donate any frozen meals, baking or non-perishable food to this family to please please let me know.  Craig and I are going to be going to Walmart tommorrow to stock up a box of food (cereal, granola bars, soup, pasta, etc...) to send as well as a few frozen meals for these two children.  My amazing neighbour is going to arrange to take food to them next week.  So even if it is just one box of Kraft Dinner, that would be amazing.   These kids are still in school so lunch items would probably be wonderful as well. 

I know that these children would appreciate full bellies, and I can't imagine my children being hungry.   Even if a donation of food is not a possibility,  if you could pray for these children, that they are strong in this time of difficulty and that their needs are met that would be wonderful. 

Thanks everyone!
 

My hobbies!

Okay, so as if homeschooling and homemaking isn`t enough to do - lol - I have a few hobbies!  My mom and me own a buisness called EWies Diapers.  I started making diapers when my son Ewan was born (hence EWies - lol).  Here are some pictures!

My Ewan at age 2 - he is sooo tiny here!

My Morgan at about 6 months - I can`t believe he was so small! 

Our website for our diapers is www.ewiesdiapers.com.  It has been up and running for a few years now, and we have made well over 1000 diapers!  Such a feeling of accomplishment :o)

My second hobby has also turned into a little entrepreneurship!  I make dolls.  I have 5 sons, hence needing a little girlyness in this house - lol.   Here are some of them!

 

They are waldorf-inspired and I am in love with every single one I make and thus hate to sell them - lol.  Craig helps me form their heads and do the boys hair caps.  Thankfully, that makes the whole process run smoothly!  The website for them is www.bramblesblossoms.com or https://www.facebook.com/BramblesandBlossoms. 

Anyway, these are the things that keep me busy aside from the boys!  LOL. 

Sneaky spicy muffins

These awesome muffins (most reminicent of pumpkin spice muffins) are made with whole wheat flour, carrots, sweet potatoes, cauliflower and zucchini!

2/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
3/4 cup sweet potato and carrot puree
1/4 cup zucchini/cauliflower puree
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp salt

optional: mini semi sweet chocolate chips (chocolate always entices my kids and me - lol!

In a large mixing bowl, beat sugar, oil, eggs and carrot/sweet potato puree. Combine flour, baking powder, soda, spices and salt. Add to puree mixture; blend until wet. Spoon into greased muffin tins, filling full. Bake at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  This made 12 large muffins! 

Mashed potatoes (ps. they're sneaky!)

Who doesn't love warm and creamy mashed potatoes?  I know my kids do (well most of them anyway!)  They are the perfect place to hide sneaky veggies too!

The sneaky fix for mashed potatoes is simple!  They can easily be mixed with your pureed cauliflower and zucchini without anyone knowing.  Plus, it doesn't change their texture or color! 

Today I mixed a full 1/2 cup in my batch of mashed potatoes!  So when the kids scoffed at eating their corn but begged for seconds of mashed potatoes I could barely contain my smile ;o)

Sneaky sneaky cupcakes!

Here is a quick fix for your boxed cupcake mix! 

What you need:

ANY flavour cupcake mix (I used butter pecan today)
1/4 cup of pureed vegetables
eggs
water/milk
vegetable oil

Follow your directions on the box.  BUT instead of using the full amount of oil (mine called for 1/2 cup) sub 1/4 cup of the oil for a vegetable puree instead!  Butter pecan went well with the carrot/sweet potato puree.  You could use the blueberry spinach puree in chocolate cake, and white cake could use the cauliflower and zucchini puree.   Just be creative and try to match the vegetable to the cake!

It was delicious just so you know!  AND it adds some healthy properties to the best food ever - lol.  

Spicy Taco Dippers

Okay, so I did detour from my meal plan.  Last night my sweet mom brought us dinner, so we didn't get taco night.  Taco night is my husbands MOST favorite dinner.  So tonight I thought I'd fix him something a little special!

I made taco dippers.  Here is what you need:

1/4 cup broccoli/spinach/pea puree
1/4 cup zucchini/cauliflower puree
1/4 cup carrot/sweet potato puree
taco kit (I saved the wraps for another night)
ground beef
water
2 bags of corn dipping chips
salsa

I browned some ground beef, rinsed it (because I am anal about grease) and then put it back into the pan. Then I added the broccoli puree, the cauliflower puree and the carrot puree and mixed it around.  Finally I threw in the taco seasoning and water.  Mix that up, and then (for us) I added the little taco salsa stuff that comes in the kit.  I mixed it once more and its done!

I serve this with corn chip dippers that I found for 67 cents at walmart for a bag (in the tortilla chip aisle).  You can serve with cheese if you want too.  I also put out a bowl of salsa and raw veggies.  The kids scoop up the taco meat in their chip, add some salsa and yum! 

This meal has tons of veggies in it that they don't even know about!  I love that. 

Discipline for Boys

Many people ask me how we discipline our children.  Well, we do a lot of things but today we had to discipline for heart behaviours.  Ayden and Ewan fight a lot.  They are 7 and 4 (almost 5).  They constantly are at each others throats and then the next second playing happily.  It drives me crazy. 

Today the fight was over something insignificant.  They both spent some time in the corner while I got the ankle bond.  The boys needed some time together.  Really together.  In order to fix the heart issue of them not wanting to work together (be it playing or anything else), we tied them together.  They had to work out what to do, when to do it and how to do it.  It was a battle.  There were tears.  There was fighting and there was arguing.  BUT they started to work together.  They had no choice.  Either they both colored on the floor, both peed or both went to the playroom, they BOTH had to do it.  It helped their communication, and I swear to you it was the best way to confront this issue. 

They are still tied together.  They get the "ankle bond" for 30 minutes, and the 30 minutes starts again every time they squabble.  This could take all day today.   It was novel at first - almost fun.  But that novelty wore in about 10 seconds.  By the time I got out the camera, they were no longer having fun...

Here is a picture... since a picture is worth a thousand words...

My facebook page!

Just thought I'd let everyone know that we have a facebook page now too for this blog!  I thought it would be an easy way to get suggestions and answer questions as well as do some giveaways!   Here is our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/My-Kindergarten-Quiver/123060537806120?sk=wall&filter=1

We also own a few businesses as well :o)  We own EWies diapers (www.ewiesdiapers.com) and Brambles & Blossoms (https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Brambles-Blossoms/294199710590993?sk=wall&filter=1)

So I was thinking of popping a Brambles & Blossoms doll up for my first giveway!  But I suppose I have to make the perfect one first!  I am thinking it will have to be a boy doll, since I am blogging about raising boys.  LOL.

Recipe for puree #5

Mmmm... spinach water.  Nothing smells nastier while making it - lol.  You simply are boiling spinach in water and squeezing out all its juices.  Sounds tasty - lol.  Here's what you need.

3 cups of baby spinach washed very well
1 cup water

(I triple this recipe so I only have to do it once in awhile)

Bring your water to a boil and add spinach.  Turn down heat to allow it to simmer for about 20 minutes.  Then strain out over a bowl.  Really press the spinach down in one of those mesh strainers to get every last bit of juice out.  Don't toss the spinach pulp, just add it to green puree.

Once you have it all then pour it into a measuring cup (to keep it simple to pour).  Then pour into ice cube trays.  Freeze the cubes, and once frozen pop them all into a freezer bag.  1 tbsp of this juice is equal in nutrition to 1/4 cup of raw spinach.  There is about 2 tbsp in each cube.  This is awesome to add to omlettes (instead of water or milk) since it does not change color or taste but essentially adds 1/2 cup of spinach to it!  You can add it to so many things.  Pancakes, orange juice, homemade popsicles, pudding, jello, etc... Just sub out 2 tbsp of liquid and pop it in.  No one will be the wiser to it and you will be hailed as super sneaky!

 

Puree recipe #4

This is the puree that works perfectly with anything chocolate!  For the blueberry and spinach puree you need frozen blueberries and spinach! 

3 cups of baby spinach
1 cup blueberries
water (if needed)

Just bring your blueberries to room temperature and throw them in the food processor with the raw spinach.  Puree it to a smooth consistency.  Use water if needed to make sure it is very smooth with no little chunks that kids will clue in on! 

Then scoop out in 1/4 cup measures and plop into a snack size ziploc bag.  Freeze flat.  Then toss all your bags into a big freezer bag.  Thaw out in warm water before using!

Recipe for Puree #3

Here is the super fabulous spinach, green peas and broccoli puree.  It is the hardest to hide in things, but I always feel awesome when I do - lol.  Here is what you need:

1 head of broccoli
1 bag of baby spinach
1 bag of frozen peas

I use about 4 cups of baby spinach (washed and raw).  Then I use about 2 cups of frozen peas and the full head of broccoli.  Cook the broccoli and the frozen peas until tender, and throw them in the food processor with the raw spinach (I usually puree the spinach first).  Puree it down as smooth as possible, adding a little water if needed (use as little water as possible).

Then just scoop it out with your 1/4 cup measure and plop it into a snack size ziploc bag.  Freeze flat and then toss the bags into a freezer bag.  Thaw out in warm water before you need it.  If you are using it in a soup you can throw it in frozen too. 

Recipe for Puree #2

The second puree recipe is the one for cauliflower and zucchini.  I always spell zucchini wrong in my recipes.  Just go with it - lol.  So for this one you need:

1 head of cauliflower
3 small zucchinis
water

I cook the cauliflower (boil) until tender.  I first of course washed it and broke it up into smaller pieces.  Then I peel the zucchinis so all green is removed (if you peel too lightly they will stay green and your puree will be green).  Chop your zucchini into chunks and puree raw.  Add cauliflower chunks and puree it completely, adding water as necessary to get it to the right consistency. 

Scoop it out into 1/4 cup measures and plop into a snack size ziploc bag.  Freeze flat, then throw into a freezer bag.  To thaw, I just pop the bag into warm water before I need it :o)

Puree recipe #1

My most favorite puree recipe is a combination of carrots and sweet potato.  Many people call this an orange puree (as referred to in the Sneaky Chef books).  Here is how to make it:

1 medium sweet potato
3-4 carrots
water

I always use a gigantic sweet potato and about 8 carrots - lol.  Using the above recipe will only give you about 1 cup of puree.  Using a giant sweet potato gives you a good 2 to 2.5 cups of puree.  Remember you are freezing them in 1/4 cup measures, so I usually go big to save time. 

What you do is simply cook the carrots in rough chunks along with sweet potato chunks (I boil for about 20 minutes).  Then strain them and throw them into the food processor.  Add some water (the less the better).  Puree into a nice thick consistancy. 

I then scoop in 1/4 cup measures into those handy dandy little snack ziploc bags.  Then freeze flat, and throw into a large freezer bag.  I thaw them out in warm water before I need them.  Super easy!

Zesty chicken sandwiches!

Tonight is pulled chicken sandwich night.  I thought I'd switch it up a bit and do a zesty chicken sandwich on fresh homemade kaiser rolls.  I like my food to be zesty - and my life!  LOL. 

So here is how to make the chicken

You need
- crockpot
- 3 chicken breasts
- 1 bottle bbq sauce (I use chicken and rib)
- 1/4 cup pureed carrot and sweet potato
- 2 cubes of frozen spinach juice (remember this equals 1 full cup of spinach!)
- 1/2 cup of vinegar

Mix all sauce ingredients (thaw your purees if needed, and your cubes).  Put the chicken in a slow cooker and pour sauce over.  I had about 1/2 cup of sauce left over from my mixture.  So I popped it into a container in the fridge.  It would baste burgers perfectly for another dinner.

Cook on high for 1 hour, and then low for 3 more hours.   Take chicken out before serving and pull it apart with 2 forks.  Return to slow cooker and toss in the sauce. 

I am going to serve this with kaiser rolls.  My kids BEGGED for white bread today.  "Nothing weird mom - no germ or anything" they beg.  Okay, so I will make these buns primarily white.  Not fully of course - lol.  But hopefully they don't notice.

Here's what to do:

2 tablespoons active dry yeast

2 cups warm water (110° to 115°), divided

4 tablespoons sugar, divided

1/3 cup canola oil

2 teaspoons salt

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup wheat germ

1 egg white

2 teaspoons cold water

Poppy and/or sesame seeds

Directions

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water. Add 1 tablespoon sugar; let stand for 5 minutes. Add the oil, salt, remaining warm water and sugar and 4 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in remaining flour/wheat germ to form a soft dough.
• Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. This is where I use my handy dandy Bosch mixer!  Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
• Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide into 16 pieces. Shape each into a ball. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.
• Beat egg white and cold water; brush over rolls. Sprinkle with poppy and/or sesame seeds.
• Put a shallow baking dish half full of water on the lowest rack in your oven. 
• Bake at 400° on a middle rack for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.
• Yield: 16 rolls.

Serve your pulled chicken over fresh buns with some raw veggies and enjoy! 

Sneaky Monday Meatballs II

Okay so it is meatball monday again!  Instead of doing BBQ meatballs, I happened upon a can of crushed pineapple!  What a fun way to start an awesome sneaky sweet and sour sauce!

Okay so here goes!  I used a box of frozen blue menu lean italian meatballs for this.  It has 64 meatballs in the box for $6.99.  There is very little fat on them and they taste good.  This is faster than making meatballs, which I do sometimes do but not this month! 

Sauce:
1 can crushed pineapple
4 tbsp of white vinegar
2 tbsp reduced salt soy sauce
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground ginger
sprinkle of hot dried pepper flakes
sprinkle of seasoning salt
1/4 cup of pureed broccoli/spinach/peas
palmful of sesame seeds (optional)
2 cubes of spinach juice
1 colored pepper cut in rough chunks (to be able to be picked out - lol)
a few extra pineapple wedges (optional)

Mix up all your sauce ingredients (not including the cornstarch or pepper chunks or pineapple wedges) in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Then add your pepper wedges and pineapple chunks. 

Meanwhile, pour your frozen meatballs into a slow cooker.  Turn on low.

Pour your sauce over your meatballs and continue to cook on low for about 4 hours.  This sneaky sauce has fruit (pineapple), veggies (broccoli, spinach and peas) and extra veggie power (the spinach juice that 1 tbsp is the same as 1/4 cup raw spinach leaves - so two cubes is equal to 4 tbsp which is the same as 1 entire cup of raw spinach leaves!)

What I like to serve with this is quinoa!   Have you tried it?  Most commonly considered a grain, quinoa is actually a relative of leafy green vegetables like spinach and Swiss chard.  It has a tasty, fluffy, creamy, slightly crunchy texture and a somewhat nutty flavor when cooked.  It is also extremely nutritious.  Not only is quinoa high in protein (6g of protein in 1/4 cup!), but the protein it supplies is complete protein, meaning that it includes all nine essential amino acids. Quinoa's amino acid profile well balanced, making it a good choice for vegans concerned about adequate protein intake, and quinoa is especially well-endowed with the amino acid lysine, which is essential for tissue growth and repair.  It also has 3g of fiber in a 1/4 cup. 

In order to make the quinoa more nutritious (of course I have to meddle with it!) here is what I do:

- 1 cup quinoa
- 2 cups water
- 1/4 cup pureed cauliflower/zuchinni

I cook my quinoa in my rice cooker.  It is fast.  Pour the quinoa and water into the cooker and cook!  Once done, I add my pureed veggies and a bit of salt and pepper for seasoning (optional).  Mix and serve with your meatballs!  Sooo yummy!

To be extra veggie-ish I also will serve this with veggies on the side.  Today it will be raw veggies since I am sure my kids will at least eat one carrot stick - lol!

Enjoy!

Monday (spinach) Milkshake

To go with the kids Monday morning oatmeal bars I decided to throw together a chocolate milkshake.  They were so surprised and thrilled to wake up to this today!!

Okay so this is a stock photo, but looks close enough.  I am so OCD that I would NEVER let the shake run over the side.  LOL.  The thought of it is bugging me already!

Anyway...

Our oatmeal bars were jam packed with oatbran, oats, cauliflower/zuchinni and soymilk.  But I thought I'd like to get some spinach into them today.  The best way to get them to eat spinach is to get them to eat chocolate!  They downed these shakes like nobody's buisness!

Chocolate Spinach Shake

(this made 4 glasses)

- 4 cups of chocolate almond milk
- 1/4 cup spinach and blueberry puree
- 1 TBSP unsweetened cocoa
- 4 TBSP frozen low fat frozen yogurt (I spoiled the kids with a bit of real dairy today)
- 1/2 cup ice

Throw it all into a blender and blend until smooth!  Pour out and serve with a straw.  Like I said, my kids drank these so fast, and then told me "that was very good!" and "we should have this again!".

Mwah hahaha.

Sneaky Vegetarian Spaghetti

Sunday night is spaghetti night in the Eklund house.  This is a good meal for a Sunday, since I cook the sauce in my crockpot and it can go in before church so it is just simmering all day long.  Spaghetti is an inexpensive meal that serves lots too, so you can always bring someone home for dinner and have a great meal that pretty much anyone will eat - even the pickiest eaters!

Sauce:
1 can tomato sauce (680ml)
2 cans tomato paste (360ml)
2 cans of water (use paste cans)
2 packets of spaghetti seasoning (clubhouse)
2 tsp of minced garlic
2 level tablespoons of sugar
1-2 green pepper (largely chopped)
Palmful of oregano
¼ cup sweet potato and carrot puree
¼ cup green peas, spinach and broccoli puree
¼ cup zucchini and cauliflower puree
1 tbsp canola oil (keeps sauce from burning since there is no meat in it)

Add all ingredients into a Crockpot.  I largely chop the green pepper since my kids HATE green pepper but we like it, and I like the flavour it adds to the sauce.  Having them largely chopped makes it easy to pick out before you pour on your kids pasta – lol.  Turn Crockpot on low for 6-8 hours.  The sauce can optionally be turned on high for 3 hours if you will be at home.    


Pasta:
1 bag/box of pasta
½ cup of white bean puree
¼ cup cauliflower and zucchini puree
2 tbsp of vegan margarine (or butter)
¼ cup of water

Cook your pasta, drain.  In a small saucepan melt your margarine or butter.  Add your ½ cup of white bean puree, zucchini cauliflower puree, some salt and pepper and blend well.  Add the ¼ cup of water and blend again (the water makes the sauce thinner).  Then pour over your pasta to coat. 

The white bean paste combines with your pasta to create a complete protein!  It also adds fiber to a high carb meal, especially since my kids like white pasta.  The veggie puree in it adds extra veggies since my kids always want more pasta “with no sauce” after their first helping. 

Serve your spaghetti sauce over your pasta and sprinkle with a bit of cheese (or dairy free cheese in our case!).  Enjoy!