Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

     First day of "summer camp" (aka: supervised playgrounds) for Eva. I packed her: a pb sandwhich, a strawberry go-gurt, 2 large strawberries, goldfish, green pepper strips - and she said she needed more!! sheesh!

     For lunch, I made the triplets "Squid dogs". This is where you cut hot dogs into chunks, then thread uncooked spaghetti into the hot dog, then plop them into boiling water for 6 to 9 minutes. I did 6 minutes, but I think 7 would've been better. I put a little spaghetti sauce in a bowl and put in the "squids". The triplets were laughing so much, they almost couldn't eat!

     Eva had Irish Dancing practice for Irish Fest and it was in Milwaukee - an hour ride - and she had to be there at 5pm. So I made an Italian Tortellini Veggie Salad and bread sticks for our dinner. I used sandwhich containers and put some salad in each of them - one for Eva and one for me.  While Eva was changing into her practice clothes, I packed a soft sided cooler with: a soda for me, a bottle of water for Eva, the sandwhich containers with the salad, 4 breadsticks wrapped in paper toweling, a small plastic box with four small home made brownies, and some animal crackers in case she needed a snack. I also included forks and napkins! (yeah! I remembered, lol)
I left the big bowl in the fridge so dad could feed the triplets before their baseball game.
     I thought the salad was VERY yummy. Eva wasn't so thrilled. She wanted just the tortellini without any sauce.

Italian Tortellini-Vegetable Salad

1 (9oz) pkg. cheese filled tortellini
1 (9 oz) pkg. spinanch-filled tortellini
2 cups broccoli florets
1 cup chopped tomatoes
1 cup frozen pepper medley, thawed
1/4 cup fresh parsley
1 can artichoke hearts, coarsely chopped (reserve 1/4 cup juice)
1 (8oz) bottle Kraft's Zesty Italian Dressing
1 tsp basil
1 tsp powdered garlic

1.  Cook tortellini in large saucepan as directed on package, adding broccoli during last 4 minutes of cooking time. Drain; rinse with cold water to cool. Drain well.
2. Meanwhile, in large bowl, combine tomatoes, parsley, peppers and artichokes.
3. Add tortellini, broccoli to salad; stir gently. Add salad dressing and reserved 1/4 cup artichoke liquid; toss to mix.  Refrigerate until serving time.

Servings: 8 (1 1/2 cup)

Idea from: Pillsbury Easy Pasta, April 2003

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