One Pot Pasta

Ok, now, yesterday I posted a recipe for yummy Pot Roast...

Today's recipe is a super simple IP pasta.  Sort of a Baked Ziti type thing but without the boiling pasta and baking and waiting.  And all the pots and pans.  I hate washing dishes, doesn't everyone?  You never meet anyone who says, "Hey, got any dishes I can wash?  I just don't get enough of that at home."  This is a real "toss everything in the pot and forget about it" sort of a thing, no waiting for water to boil, having your pasta clump all together, having the water boil over while your kid argues with you about math homework.  Not that I would know about that...

But no, none of that drama, this one is fast and easy.  And it's soooooo yummy!  It's a real kid pleaser, too.  And with a couple short cuts you can have dinner on the table in 20 minutes or less. 

Layer 1:  Frozen Meatballs - A small bag, enough to mostly cover the bottom of your Inner Pot in one layer.  (Aprox. 12-14oz)

Layer 2:  1 Box Dry Pasta - Uncooked, Ziti, Bowties, Cavatappi, Rigatoni (I haven't tested spaghetti or elbows yet) (16oz)

Layer 3:  One jar of prepared spaghetti Sauce (24oz)  Spread sauce to the sides of the pot, covering the pasta like you're frosting a cake.  This helps to ensure the pasta cooks evenly. 

Step 4:  Fill the sauce jar 3/4 full of water, pour water down the side of the pot trying to disturb the sauce as little as possible.  

 Plug in your instant pot and set to manual, reduce the cooking time to 3/4 of the cooking time recommended on the box of pasta.  Once the timer beeps, do a quick release to depressurize the pot, open the lid, give it a gentle stir to distribute the sauce and meatballs.  Then sprinkle on about a cup of shredded mozzarella cheese.  I usually put the lid back on for a couple minutes to melt the cheese.  

Adventures in Scouting: A New Year!

 One of my favorite things about being a Daisy Girl Scout leader is the crafts.  My group loves to do crafts and I try to come up with something every week.  It's difficult sometimes, they have to be kind of simple.  We've got little kids with little hands and they're still gaining coordination skills.  They also get very excited and they ain't got time for long instructions.  I generally like to go with inexpensive, too.  These "Get to Know You" necklaces are just a cheap tub of pony beads (we sorted ahead) and any cord/string you can scare up.  The kids had lots of fun stringing beads and sharing their life facts with their friends.  Each color stands for something: 

Pink=Sisters
Blue=Brothers
Green=Years in Scouts
Orange=Pets
Yellow=Kindergarten 
Purple=First Grade  

Another thing I like, especially at the beginning of the year, is having a craft that can easily be adjusted for the number of kids you have attending.  These ghosts are made with the super cheap paper plates.  I think there was 50 in the pack for $2.  A sheet of black construction paper, I traced the eyes and mouth on and cut into strips for each girl.  For the hands I made a template and let the girls trace them on to drawing paper and cut them out.  The streamers are just white crepe paper.  The extra crepe paper will be used to decorate for our Halloween Party in a few weeks and the plates will come in handy for snack. In a world of so many Pintrest fails these projects are foolproof, not messy and super easy for the kids and for you!  Over the next weeks and months I'll be posting lots more ideas, try them with your kids and let me know how they turn out!