Making it up as I go {fun with dinner}

When I got home from work today the only thing I was feeling motivated to do was make dinner {mostly because I had hamburger in the fridge that was going to expire soon} so I immediately started making dinner.

The hamburger in the fridge was already formed into patties for hamburgers but I knew I wasn't going to be able to make those tonight so I just broke them up into pieces in a frying pan and browned it for spaghetti sauce. I cooked it with chopped onions, mushrooms, minced garlic, and italian seasoning.

I thought I had a can of fire roasted tomato sauce in my pantry but it ended up being a creamy basil parmesan sauce. I wasn't sure how that would taste with hamburger but I didn't have anything else so I added that to a sauce pan with a can of italian tomatoes. Then I added the hamburger, mixed it up, and let it all cook together on the stove at a low temperature.

I started cooking some Barilla Veggie rotini (it has a full serving of veggies in it!) and while that was boiling I sauteed fresh spinach, thinly sliced zucchini & squash in olive oil.

I toyed with the idea of being really healthy and serving the meat sauce over the veggies alone without any pasta but decided I needed wanted some carbs so I compromised and used a small amount of pasta and sauce with a lot of veggies and I mixed it all together!

After taking this picture I decided to add halved grape tomatoes which was a really nice addition. The meal ended up being really good and has kept me full all night without being too heavy, even with the hamburger, creamy sauce, and pasta.

I haven't played around with my cooking like this in quite a while but it is my favorite way to make a meal. Plus, I always feel good when I make a balanced meal that has a lot of veggies. I don't think my husband would have liked this meal but he's working out of town so he wasn't here. If he had been here he could have had his pasta and sauce together with the veggies on the side.

I had plenty of leftovers and can't wait to eat them tomorrow for lunch!

{Housewife-ly update: I cleaned my kitchen, family room, hallways, laundry room, and bathroom tonight! It was a really good night! I love a clean house so much, I wish cleaning came naturally to me because I'm always so happy when it is done! If I do it enough though I'm hoping it will become a habit!}

xoxo