What We Purged from My Son's Bookcases :: Younger Books

What I Bought for My Son to Read :: Summer Reading

What Ian Made for Dinner :: Mashed Potatoes

Ian volunteered to help make the mashed potatoes tonight. It's one of his favorite foods so it's good for him to know how to make it.

What Ian Made for Dinner :: Bucatini with Butter-Roasted Tomato Sauce

Now that my son is in high school, it's really hitting me hard that I need to prepare him better for real life and surviving on his own. Chief among these tasks is cooking, cleaning, and laundry. Slowly, but surely, he needs to practice these skills so he doesn't end up as a ramen-eating, still-in-the-same-clothes-as-a-week-ago, I-live-in-my-own-filth college student. I'll settle for I-only-eat-ramen-sometimes-and-I-changed-my-clothes-yesterday college student!

Anyway, I came across this recipe for pasta (we didn't have Bucatini) with butter-roasted tomato sauce and it looked easy (and good ... mmm, butter!). The kids were still on winter break so I told Ian he was making dinner and helped him get through the steps. It was pretty easy to assemble and required very little knife work. (I did help him with draining the pasta; poor kid has no arm strength and I was afraid he was going to spill boiling water on himself.)

[smashing garlic cloves = no need to use the knife for cutting]

Final verdict? I'll definitely have him make it again. The sauce was a bit more tangy than I imagined it would be, but I think more time in the oven (with a smidge of sugar) will tone it down.