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By rebecca, April 30, 2012 11:44 pm

Disclosure: I am part of the Finish Blogger Program by Mom Central. I received compensation as part of my affiliation with this group.  The opinions on this blog are my own.

The good people at Finish and Mom Central Canada thought it would be fun for bloggers to post about a family dinner with baked on food and to show how the dishes clean up using Finish Quantum. Share your cooking experience and some before and after pics of the dishes, they said.

What I heard, though, was a call to trot out my inner Pioneer Woman. I mean, aside from the fantastic cooking and photographing, we’re practically the same person. (And the homeschooling, ohmygod. That woman is a saint, a saint who makes me want to cook wonderfully delicious and fattening things.)

But a seven month old baby and the t-ball, swimming, birthday party, kindergarten orientation, end-of-season hockey party schedule from hell dictated the dish. We’re having baked pasta with jarred sauce and hella cheese. Read carefully as I navigate you through the recipe in excruciating detail.

First, and this is important, pour a good amount of water in a big pot and put it on to boil. Don’t worry about cleaning your sink before you post pictures of it to the internet either.

While your waiting for the water to boil, gather the rest of your ingredients. I’m using some sort of tubular pasta that’s bigger than penne, but smaller than rigatoni. You can use whatever you want as long as it’s not spaghetti. Baked spaghetti is stupid. Learn from my mistakes. I also had most of a jar of this ah-mazing marinara sauce I just discovered at Costco. You can make your own if you like things to take longer and be less delicious. I used to be that way, too. Lastly, there’s the cheese. I happen to live around the corner from a fantastic little cheese factory with all the fresh mozzarella and ricotta and freshly grated Parmesan a heart can desire. You’ll have to make do with whatever you can get your hands on. Sorry.

Start grating the mozzarella. You can just tell how good this stuff is, can’t you? You’ll probably want to sneak a couple tastes just to make sure at this point too. It’s okay, I won’t tell.

Go ahead and grate all that cheese. What the hell are you saving it for anyway?

Your water’s probably boiling by now, so — wait for it — go ahead and add the pasta. What would you do without me?

Set your colander in the sink while you wait for the pasta to cook. And if you’re like me, you’ll probably have to wash it while you’re there.

It’s also a good idea to set out your baking dish. Again, I’m using a Pyrex dish, but you can use anything that’s oven safe as long it has an ample cheese sprinkling surface.

Things are about to get a little more involved at this point, so it’s not a bad idea to call in a helper. (Cupcake apron sold separately.)

Drain the pasta in the colander and then transfer to the baking dish. Aren’t you glad I told you to have them ready and waiting?

Pour on your tomato sauce. Life is good.

Take a well-deserved break while your helper mixes the pasta with the sauce.

Then let her sprinkle on the mozzarella cheese — all of the mozzarella cheese. Life just got better.

She’s going to want to add about a quarter cup of grated Parmesan, too. Don’t get in her way.

At this point, you can just pop this baby in a 350 or 375 degree oven for half an hour or until the cheese gets all good and bubbly. Or you can put a lid on it and put it in the fridge while you head out in a downpour to take a 6 year old to swimming lessons with a 3 year old and a 7 month old in tow. Whichever.

Eventually we returned home and popped that baby in the oven. This is not a cooking show, my friends. That is a real oven, greased up window and all.

And it’s ready! Do you see what the oven did to that cheese? Look at how wonderfully brown and crispy-gooey it is.

Look at it! Don’t look at the conspicuous lack of a salad, though. I was going to pick up greens to serve with the pasta, but did I mention the downpour and the three young children? Random veggies from the fridge it is!

And here’s the payback. (Well, there’s this and the calories applied directly to my hips.) That pan is covered in tomato-y grease and baked-on cheese. The picture doesn’t even really do it justice. Normally I’d let it soak for a bit in the sink and then scrub it with dish soap, elbow grease and scouring pads. This time they want me to put it in the dishwasher.

You guys. That is one shiny, clean baking dish. Even the glassware I washed with it is sparkling. Just pretend you don’t notice the giant container of Cascade dishwasher gel in the background. I was using that before and washing every single pot and pan by hand.

I am about to start saving a lot of time. Whatever should I do with it? [Pointedly not looking at the mountain of laundry or floor covered with toys.]

Comments (2)

By rebecca, April 24, 2012 2:26 pm

We have those ubiquitous Ikea plastic bowls in the assorted colours along with a couple other stray plastic bowls. But I don’t like using them for hot food. Then we have lots of grown-up sized bowls that go with the set of everyday dishes we got as a wedding present. We have some little Japanese-style rice bowls that I often use for the kids, two shallow bowls that say “pasta” on them, two small blue bowls and one Royal Doulton Bunnykins bowl. You can see where this is going.

The bowl is actually Colum’s. He got it as a gift for his first birthday or his baptism or something, back when he was our one and only. Irene, of course, LOVES that bowl more than anything and Colum is kind enough to let her use it sometimes. They take turns, is the theory.

Yesterday Irene helped me put together the first lentil stew I’ve made in years. I even boiled some lentils plain for baby Mary. I reached for the bowls and … they were almost all dirty. I had one clean Japanese rice bowl and the Bunnykins.  I spooned some stew into each and set the Bunnykins at Irene’s place. Colum then complained that it was his turn for the bowl and if there are two things you can count on in this world they that kid’s sense of fairness and his impeccable memory.

So I tried to switch bowls.

There was screaming and crying. There was foot stomping and full-on thrashing on the kitchen floor. There was begging and pleading and hands thrown up in frustration and, you guessed it, Irene wound up with the bowl.

Irene sat up at the table with Colum’s Bunnykins bowl full of delicious (if I don’t say so myself) lentil stew and refused to try even one bite. She ate toast with butter and drank her milk and would not deign to place a solitary lentil in her mouth. Not one stinking lentil, people!

“That’s it,” I said. “If you don’t at least try your dinner tonight, I’m going to cook this every night until you do.”

So, guess what I’m making for dinner tonight?

Comments (14)

By rebecca, April 19, 2012 1:04 am

I am participating in the Indigo Kids program by Mom Central Canada.  I received compensation for my participation in this campaign.  The opinions on this blog are my own. (This one’s also a giveaway!)

CONTEST CLOSED.

Colum’s class went on a field trip yesterday which meant I got to had to drop him off first thing in the morning and he would come home at the end of the school day. For this parent of a child in half-day kindergarten, this was nothing short of THE MOST WONDERFUL THING EVER. I still had a three year old and a baby to take care of, true, but now we had time to go places and do things.

My plan was to take the girls to an Indigo Kids location so they could pick out a birthday present for their brother. (Of course, when I say “they,” I mean Irene because Mary can barely even pick her nose. And by “Irene,” I mean Irene with my overbearing guidance.) I really wanted to go to the downtown location because I was craving some city action, but, you know, the parking. (Take the subway. What’s that? Take the highway? The subway. Take the subway. No thanks, I just ate.) My inner voice was trying to tell me something when I remembered that the Manulife Centre (where the downtown Indigo is) validates parking.  We were off.

This was going to be fun.

But just in case it wasn’t:

The kids section was really quite impressive. There was a large selection of games and toys and I very nearly broke the budget on a Radio Flyer scooter thanks to some merchandising mastermind who knew that all I ever wanted since I was a little girl was a scooter. Why could I never have a scooter?! Luckily, Irene was the one calling the shots.

How about this? Nothing says 6-year-old boy like a Blossom Bright Flashlight.

Ballerinas? Cupcakes? C’mon!

Okay, now. Let’s remember who we’re shopping for.

That’s much better because you can never have too many table hockey games. Or maybe the one we already have is enough.  Let’s move on to the books while we think it over.

There was a large selection of children’s books for kids of all ages laid out nicely. We poked around the activity books and science section for a bit before heading for the early readers. A friendly staff member approached us almost right away to see if we needed help. I did! Colum is a very, very good reader, I explained. Many of the early reading books geared at his age level seem too simple for him, but the stuff for older kids don’t seem appropriate either. He’s only just turning six. He still likes to look at pictures and he doesn’t like to be scared.

Here’s what she recommended:

And my favourite:

I love them all. Seriously, if you’re at the Indigo Kids in the Manulife Centre in Toronto, ask for Elizabeth. She’ll sort you out.

There was just one last thing to do before we left. I needed to get a little something for my special shopping helper, Irene. Inspired by the books I got for Colum, I vetoed anything based on a TV show. How about a colouring book? Then I had to outlaw anything princess and anything wedding themed. Yes! There were multiple colouring and activity books aimed at young girls based on some princess bride fantasy. What’s that all about?

Finally, I found just the thing for my little painter.

I can’t wait to find out how Colum likes his new books on his birthday on April 29. Unfortunately, neither can you. This campaign ends at the end of the month and I need to post this right away if we’re going to have time for our giveaway!

Enter to win a $35 Indigo gift card by leaving me a comment telling what you like (or think you would like) about Indigo Kids. Hint: they also do free gift wrapping which is perfect for that kiddie gift on the go. Hint hint: online shopping!

Contest closes at midnight on April 30th.

Indigo gift card winners from other blogs participating in the same campaign are not eligible.

Canada only.

CONTEST CLOSED.

Congrats to Margaret!