Dinner on the Run

Recently we have been getting side tracked from our quest to eat at home, but tonight we stayed the course. Even though our son had two school functions to attend - one from 3:00 to 4:30, another from 6:30 to 7:30 - we opted not to pick up fast food. Instead, we had a fast dinner at home featuring pasta (what else?) and jar sauce with some additions to make it more interesting.

One of my favorite jar sauces is Ragu's garlic and parmesan alfredo. It is rich and creamy making a good base for all the stuff that livens up a bowl of pasta. Tonight I dropped half a box of fetuccini into boiling water and dug out the sauce along with some left over shrimp, frozen veggies, extra parmesan, Italian seasonings, and black pepper (of course). While the pasta got underway, I also popped some frozen garlic bread into the oven for good measure. The frozen veggies went into the pot when the fettuccini was almost done, and the last minute or so, the shrimp joined the party. (This was left over from shrimp cocktail last week, so it was already cooked. I just pulled off the tales and dumped them in the water to reheat.) After draining the pot, in went the jar of sauce with three ounces of grated parmesan, pepper, and plenty of fresh Italian herbs from the garden. The garlic bread came out of the oven about the same time and dinner was on the table in 25 minutes flat.

As life becomes more and more hectic, I've grown to appreciate the "Semi-Homemade" style of cooking. The fresh herbs make a big difference in bringing canned and packaged foods to life. Dinner tastes much more homemade with freshly-snipped basil, oregano, and parsley. I realize this concoction - and many others like it - isn't a gourmet masterpiece, but it does provide the opportunity for my family to sit together sharing a meal. The time is often short, but hearing stories of daily events, laughing about a comment someone made, and knowing I took the time to provide a good meal for the guys improves my harried outlook on life almost instantly.