Baked Mostaccioli

Tonight I wanted to make Pizza On The Grill, but my yeast would not proof. So I tried again; nothing. Then I noticed that the package said Best If Used By Feb. 2008. Oops! I thought it was fresher than that. My bad.

My FiL is coming for dinner again, so plan B is Baked Mostaccioli and Cheesy Garlic Bread. I am going to add some roasted garlic that I have in the fridge to the jarred sauce, which should make it better, along with salt & pepper. Oh, I'll serve Green Salad too. We STILL have some left from our Big Salad night which was over a week ago (it was a really big Big Salad), but for some reason has not yet wilted in the fridge. Weird, huh?

Thinking about how to jazz up the pasta sauce made me remember a recipe I recently came across in the cookbook that my daughter's school sold for a fundraiser. All the mom contributed recipes for it; this recipe had ground beef, onions, tomato sauce, and cream of mushroom soup in it to be simmered in a slow cooker. Cream of Mushroom Soup in a spaghetti sauce recipe? I was intrigued at the time and I am glad I thought of it again - it is going on the Dinner Ideas List for sure.

Today I had 3 of my daughters school friends over for a playdate. It went really well! The girls got along great; they played with the dress-up clothes, then had a tea party, then they did a puzzle together, and then I served lunch. The preschool set is not known for their culinary tastes, so I gave them hot dogs, grapes, watermelon, and Goldfish. After that we built castles for the Barbie dolls with cardboard blocks and played with the dolls. Then we went outside to the backyard where I had set up the princess tent, tunnels, sidewalk chalk, and balls. They had a great time and no one got hurt, which is always a plus. It was a bit crazy at times, but I'll definitely do it again.

Happy eating!