Soccer, trumpets and pasta

We are getting back in the groove of school and regular non-holiday life. :) I am slowly trying to get organized again. After two weeks with everyone at home my house looks like an EF 5 tornado blew through it. I got two projects done today and I refuse to stress (cue Pharrell Williams Happy song music: Happy, Happy, Happy, Happy...). There is always more time to organize tomorrow.

Megan loves taking a soccer class with her preschool friends...

Josh finished soccer in the fall and is playing the trumpet...

Life is super busy with getting everyone to and from school, classes, playdates, poopy diapers, park, pee pee diapers, snack time, homework + dinner, bath, bed, snuggle time, "Mommy, please check under my bed for monsters" time "Mommy, I need a glass of water " time etc. etc.
Once we get home in the afternoons, there is a little time for a snack and play and then the immediate goal is getting everyone in bed - on time.

I am also adjusting to our normal routine and haven't yet hammered out a meal plan for this week (YIKES).
Tonight I needed a quick, healthy, hearty meal to feed our family of five.
With ingredients that I already had on hand. 
Going to the grocery with three kiddos was not an option today (Ha! When is that EVER a great option?) I try to time my grocery store jaunts so that I can either:
a. go alone
or
b. go with one kiddo (okay, maybe two in a pinch)

What to do?

I decided to make a one pot pasta dish that the kiddos love.

Whole wheat penne pasta with a marinara, ground turkey and spinach sauce.

This is so easy! Great for when you need dinner - fast.

Ingredients:

2 jars of marinara sauce. I used Trader Joe's organic tomato basil marinara sauce tonight. I am always reading labels and I can't believe that the majority of pasta sauce on the market has SUGAR it in. Yes, sugar.
Who wants to feed their family pasta sauce with sugar?
This sauce has zero sugar...

Then I used Trader Joe's whole wheat penne pasta and cooked it about 6-7 minutes. Do not overcook...

+ Organic spinach (guess where I got it?)

Added a bit of chopped garlic...

I sauteed the garlic in a tablespoon of olive oil for 30 seconds, then added the organic ground turkey.

Cook time is about 10 minutes, or until the meat is browned.

Then I simply added all the ingredients into a big pot...

Tossed it all together until the marinara sauce is thoroughly warm.

And Voila! Dinner is served in record time and the veggies are included! Yay!

Three happy (extremely hungry) kiddos! Only one shown... :)

Oh, I also added freshly grated parmesan cheese - YUM.

And then it on to the always fun adventure of getting everyone a bath, homework for Josh, brushing teeth, reading stories... And just when I needed a helping hand, look who showed up...

with a new rose from our bush. Thanks J. Perfect timing! :)

On the running front, I was able to get in a 60 minute pool run today...

and I listened to a very informative pod cast by Luke Humphrey from Hansen's Coaching Services about how to run your best Boston Marathon. He takes you through the whole course, breaks it down and gives you race strategies.

Check it out HERE!

He has also another great podcast that talks about how to select a race goal for your next marathon.

You can listen to it HERE.

Happy Running!

What are two countries that you would like to visit (or revisit)? 

There are so many on my list but I will say Iceland (because for some reason Megan keeps asking me about it) and Ireland (because J and I visited there years ago but only for a few days. I want to go back and explore more of the country. I know it would be incredible to run there!)

What is your favorite kind of tea?

I love English Breakfast (and 2nd place would be green tea) 

Happiness Is Running Life!

xo,

Natalie