family night: one pot spaghetti

The weekend I've been anticipating for two months has come and gone with Kelly home for her first Purdue Homecoming as an alumna and Sara home for her Fall Break.  Poor Kelly valiantly battled against jet lag.  That girl has been a good sleeper her whole life, but crossing multiple time zones just slays her.  When she had the world's shortest birthday as we flew to Tokyo and crossed the dateline to cut short her fourth birthday celebration complete with Preschool class crown and the 5 foot long Slimey the Worm I sewed her (one of her favorite Sesame Street characters).  We crossed 13 time zones and she took 10 days to eat or sleep again.  So we watched her sleep a bit this past weekend but there's still a nice warm happy feeling to have your children back in your warm home curled up on the sofa sleeping peacefully.  Miss that.  

all together

But all is well because Sara has one more night at home and today we made the most of the gorgeous Fall day and took a drive to hike in Turkey Run State Park.  We have yet to determine just how far we hiked, but we do know we made at least two complete loops on Trails 3 and 10.  Even at home when I look at the map I can't tell you exactly the route we took without my head hurting in that way it used to when I would stare at a completely unsolvable equation in Honors Calculus at Purdue.  It's not pain really, it's that empty pinging around of my mind searching for the missing knowledge over here, no over this way, no maybe that way......If you've never had that feeling you are hopefully my doctor or the engineer that designed the suspension bridge we crossed with a little trepidation.  The colors were gorgeous and the hiking was a little challenging here and there which in Indiana is really saying something.  

suspension bridge (I am afraid of heights, so you know these are challenging)

you needed to see just how precariously perched my camera was for this shot

Kelly is safely back home in California and Sara flies back to North Carolina tomorrow, but while we were all together we feasted.  It helps with feasting to throw a tailgate in the middle.  All the tailgate classics were served:  breakfast casserole, burgers, mac and cheese, queso, guacamole, apple pie squares.  Not that any of us were hungry the next day, but we've all been so looking forward to family favorites at our kitchen table we made a classic from a kid's cookbook:  one pot spaghetti.  I've updated it a little using ground turkey, more tomatoes,  fresh garlic and onions.  Pretty much the campfire spaghetti you may have had if you were in scouts back in the 70's (yes, I am that old).  So here's one for the picky eaters and the busy moms I know.  

One Pot Spaghetti

1 pound ground beef or ground turkey
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 C water
1 15-oz can tomato sauce
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
1tsp basil
1 pound spaghetti
1 C Parmesan

Brown ground beef in large saucepan over medium heat.  Drain.  Stir in onion and cook over medium heat until softened, 4-5 minutes.  Stir in garlic until fragrant, about 30 seconds to 1 minute.  Add salt, pepper, water, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, oregano, Worcestershire, sugar and basil.  Bring to a boil and add spaghetti (break the noodles in half or big pieces).  Stir in and reduce heat to low, cover pan and simmer about 20 minutes until spaghetti is al dente, stirring occasionally and checking for seasoning.  Stir in the Parmesan or sprinkle on top. 

stirring in spices

stirring in broken spaghetti

old school one pot spaghetti