Mixed Veggie Marinara

Over the weekend my husband and I planted an herb garden consisting of basil, oregano, cilantro, chives, peppers, lemon basil, thyme, tarragon, sage and rosemary. I have been so anxious to cook up a meal using all of these herbs, so here is a new recipe that is healthy with good mood food ingredients, cancer fighting, and is immune boosting. Sure to make any belly and mind smile:)

Mixed veggie marinara with turkey sausage served over spinach pasta:

1 lb prepared spinach pasta
1/2 head cauliflower
2 cups broccoli
2  medium zucchini sliced
1 bunch of asparagus (cut off about 2 inches from the end discard and do 1 inch cuts)
1 package raw Italian turkey sausage links
olive oil
5 garlic cloves chopped
2 large cans crushed tomatoes
Herbs; basil 2 tbl, oregano 1 tbl, sage 1 tsp, thyme 1 tsp
parmesan cheese
red pepper flakes

On a large baking sheet arrange broccoli florets, cauliflower florets, zucchini slices, asparagus pieces, and turkey sausages drizzle with 1/4 cup of olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bake at 400 for 45 minutes or until tender. Mean while take a medium sized pot and heat 2 tbl olive oil over low heat and add the chopped garlic cook about 1 minute then add both cans of crushed tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste, all of the fresh herbs, and red pepper flakes if you like it spicy! Simmer sauce till thickened about an hour. When your sauce is finished combine it with your roasted veggies, top your prepared spinach pasta with the roasted veggie sauce and finish it with the parmesan cheese and more red pepper flakes if you desire and enjoy!

Good Mood Food Snack Recipe, Pumpkin Cluster Mix

This is a simple trail mix snack recipe I created to have on hand when you feel you need a little mood pick me up in the middle of your day, or as for me on the way to pick the kids up from school. Right around 3:00 is when I start feeling a bit run down and in need of a snack!

Pumpkin Cluster Mix:
1 Cup of roasted salted pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup dried tart cherries
1/4 cup dried kiwi
1/8 cup dark chocolate pices

~Place all ingredients in a baggie and give it a good shimmy shake! (you can add as much or as little of any ingredient you like)

Pumpkin Patch

Do you ever find your self snapping at the kids, the hubby, and feeling overwhelmed with stress from all those long days of hard work? Well that's what drove me to write and start this blog. I am so tired of feeling tired. This past weekend my family and I took a trip to the Old Time Christmas Tree Farm for their annual pumpkin patch, we were sooo excited. We all woke up Sunday morning put on our new festive clothes (if you have children than you know how stressful this can be alone) then we all piled into the car and headed to go eat breakfast at the Potato Patch, which was on our way and sounded nice for a change as we had never been there. We arrived and were seated by a not so happy waitress who insisted there was a children's breakfast menu. As we skimmed over the menu there was not one to be found and the prices were a bit high ($9.00 for a breakfast plate) which was more than we wanted to spend so we all piled back into the car, at this point the kids are crying IM HUNGRY! Aaaaaaa I thought to my self.... On to our next destination, Rudy's BBQ their breakfast tacos are so yummy. We all went in seated the kids and went to pick out our tacos only to be told they stopped serving at 10:00 :( shucks strike two. As we went outside I stepped into the parking lot with all the kids following in tow behind me as I saw a sports car speeding into the lot to the parking spot the kids and I were standing in, so I started waving my hands aggressively so he could see me and not plow us over, as I did he refused to stop and drove his car up against me. I was defiantly in mother hen mode at this point giving him a piece of my mind as I had already had my share of stress that morning. Later that day I thought to my self what could have driven me to such anger and stress to snap in front of my children to a complete stranger who could have taken me out with one punch!? I hadn't eaten breakfast nor had I been eating a healthy diet! What most people don't know is your diet has a huge impact on your mood, health, and physical appearance and I hadn't been eating right at all, eating out too much, and making the wrong foods for our family. Its time for a life and health change and since food is what I majored in, for me its a cure for every thing. I hope you will join me on this food journey as I will be blogging many recipes for good mood food to make us happier and healthier not only for us, our family, and for the strangers we may encounter who don't want to endure our bad diet behaviors. We can't control others actions, but if you have the right food tools you can manage your reaction to them.