Gardening and Graduation

This weekend has been absolutely perfect.  The BIG news of the weekend?  My Sweet Girl graduated from preschool on Friday! She is a giver, and had so much fun putting together these cute little thank you gifts to her teachers.  She even helped me decorate the bags!

Our next stop was THE GREENHOUSE!  Honestly, one of my very favorite places.  The smell of fresh flowers, herbs, even the dirt...  ahhhhhhh. The possibilities are endless.

I mean, how adorably charming are these colorful watering cans? 

We had LOTS of seeds, veggies and herbs to pick up, and thankfully I had my Little One there to help me out. 

This is our third year gardening and we've already decided to double the size of our garden.  I was absolutely THRILLED at the opportunity to try out some new things this year.  We decided to take the frame from our old garden, move it and let the kiddos have their own little garden to care for.  Here, Sweet Girl is busy planting strawberries and flowers. 

High fives complete with adorable gardening gloves. 

Of course, all work and no play makes Sara a dull girl.  I just had to relax on the deck for a bit with my sunshine, lemon water and In Style magazine.

All year round, one of our favorite go to lunches we enjoy is my veggie pasta.  I'm SO excited that soon I will be enjoying this dish, using a mix of fresh veggies from my garden and the supermarket.  I normally use zucchini, yellow squash, baby spinach, mushrooms, asparagus, onion and garlic. YES!  In the meantime, I use my favorite frozen veggie combo, which is the Archer Farms (Target brand) asparagus stir fry. It's got ALL the good stuff. 

Here's what you need to make this easy, scrumptious dish:

*1 pound of your fav noodles (my girls always choose the bowtie shapes)

*2 tbls olive oil

*2 cups heavy cream

*1 bag frozen veggies or a few handfuls of your favorite fresh veggies, chopped

*1 cup shredded parmesan cheese

*salt, pepper and garlic salt

Boil and drain your pasta. In a skillet, heat your olive oil to a medium high heat and then toss in those delicious vegetables! Cook for about 5-6 minutes, stirring often. Add the heavy cream, turn heat down to medium and let it simmer, reduce and thicken up a bit. After about 5 minutes, remove from heat, stir in the parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and garlic salt.

I love this dish because it helps my kids eat their veggies!  Not only that, but it's a great base recipe... you can do SO many different things with it.  I've added fresh sage from my herb garden to the oil with a bit of butter and it adds a whole new taste. You could use cheese ravioli as your choice for pasta, fresh cherry tomatoes for a creamy tomato sauce, or add leftover steak or chicken and make it a nice dinner meal instead.  Use that imagination of yours and let me know how you make this pasta your own!