Gina's sneaky spaghetti sauce recipe.

After my surgery, lots of Loops Troops brought me yummy dinners (thank you, thank you!). Barbara's brisket was to die for, as were the salad, bread and brownies. And Gina's spaghetti sauce - well, I was instantly hooked. Like Gina, I think I could eat spaghetti every day of the year. But her sauce was so rich and so delicious, I had to share the recipe with you faithful blog readers. I call it "sneaky" because you sneak in extra veggies and your kids will never be the wiser!

Here's the recipe:
Saute onion with 1 lb. hamburger and 1 lb. spicy Italian sausage.
Add two 28-oz cans diced tomoatoes, 1 small can tomato sauce, 2 small cans tomato paste.
Finely dice a couple of peeled carrots and a seeded red bell pepper in your food processor, and add to the pot.
Also add 2-3 cloves minced garlic, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, some basil, oregano, salt, a dash of nutmeg. Gina also adds some fennel and red pepper flakes. I added some fresh black pepper.

Try it - you will love it! It makes a big batch - enough for two family meals - but there is none left for me to take a picture of :)

So instead...I would like to discuss my youngest child's acquisition problem. Despite our best teachings and her attendance at a school that highly values the environment, this child feels a strong need to own every freakin' plastic house for every concievable kind of collectible plastic junk toy that every evil toymaker has ever dreamed up. Littlest Pet Shop - need I say more? We work to curb her "collecting" but having 3 sets of doting grandparents who feel the need to shower her in the beloved plastic junk does not help.

She does recognize the value of money (money = more plastic crap!); however, Gina Y. recently asked how M. gets her cash, and she answered "I find it." No loose change is safe. The other day she was counting up her collected change and I noticed she had quite a pile. She was quick to point out, "I'm not sure where that twenty came from." Guess where it came from? The floor - underneath her daddy's shorts he threw on the couch.

So I had to take a picture the other day when I happened by this lovely plastic Barbie (not sure of her name, but I'm guessing Casino Barbie, B-movie Barbie or simply, as I have titled the photo, BarbieHo):

And next to Barbie, my little darling had created her own version of what every BarbieHo surely needs most of all:

That's right! Barbie Munee! Painstakenly drawn, colored and cut tiny little twenties.

(If you have any munee, please feel free to come acquire some lovely yarn this weekend. We have lots of it.)

- Shelley
shop online at loopsknitting.com
P.S. Have you checked out the number of comments on the Doggy Days of Summer Giveaway post! We are over 146 comments and counting! Check it out - the giveaway happens tomorrow night!