Veggie Pasta Surprise!! Part 1

Thanks to Winder Dairy home grocery delivery, my family actually had food once a week last year when I never had the time to shop. I would supplement with daily trips to our local market, simply called, The Store. I guess I should say that I never had the time nor the energy to plan ahead enough with a list to make a trip clear down to the supermarket (seriously, it's far), park miles away, push the grocery cart with a truck on the front with Nick in it and navigate the towering aisles to find a weeks worth of food.

Winder Dairy still delivers to us once a week and yesterday I forgot to get online and cancel the items I didn't need. I loaded my fridge this morning and realized I was overflowing with mushrooms, broccoli, carrots and cottage cheese. So, I had a great idea. I'll make a veggie lasagna! But since lasagna noodles are a pain, I'll just make a veggie pasta bake. What a great way to use those veggies up! I got everything out of the fridge and realized I had a lot of chopping ahead of me and had another great idea... OHHH! I'll pull out the Cuisnart from the dark recesses of the cabinets and snap through in no time!

Well I have to say, it really did chop and shred in no time. And when I was done I filled the BIGGEST metal mixing bowl FULL of sliced broccoli, mushrooms and carrots. I felt like mom! So I added whole wheat pasta shells (ooh..even more like mom), cottage cheese and a jar of marinara sauce. Which wasn't enough. So I added another jar. Still not enough. Had to add a third jar (it's all Rao's and it's about 10 bucks a jar). Suddenly I realized this veggie bake was not only expensive, but I had enough to feed the neighborhood. And sadly, it's so healthy it's one of those dishes there's no way you'd share with the family who just had a baby because they'd probably 1) hate it and 2) think you're a freak. And knowing it's so healthy I realized that my own children will also 1) hate it and 2) think I'm a freak.

Fortunately I'm realistic enough to expect that my boys will say it stinks and they hate mushrooms anyway and Courtney will say it tastes really good but she's not that hungry. Dan will LOVE it but add he had a late lunch and ask, "Does anyone want toast?"

So as a last-ditch effort to make it appealing to the family, I added a block of shredded cheddar cheese and put it in the oven to cook anyway. And then I decided to blog about my efforts and laugh while I still can!! I'll update with Part 2 to give everyone's reactions and how it all turned out later this evening.

...Just realizing I probably won't do it later this evening because it's premeire night for my Thursday shows -- a 12-year dedication to "Must See TV" makes this the biggest night of my year. RACHEL, I MISS YOU! However, I will enjoy with Dan. I'm remembering that other years I made Chicken Enchiladas or Hot Wings to usher in the event, not to mention tons of candy and ice cream. No sugar this year and only Veggie Pasta Bake. I hope I'll be able to look back and laugh!