Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Spaghetti Feed

Friday, September 25th was our opportunity to host the cross country team spaghetti feed. I love the unity the kids have while they load up on carbs. It is the icing on the cake when you can have these parties to build a strong supportive team. I loved how being part of this team helps transition the freshmen into high school in such a positive way.
When I signed up at the beginning of the season, there were only a few slots available. The available slots were later in the season, which worried me that the weather would turn colder and we would have to move the party inside the house. Lucky for us, the weather was beautiful and we could still hold it in the back yard - Yeah!
The sun was shining, the food was great and it turned out to be a lovely evening!
Compared to last year, the kids filled their assignments and brought their assigned food items. Last year we didn't have enough french bread, drinks, salads and desserts. This year I over prepared and there was a ton of food. We even had loaves of french bread left over to send home with some of the kids.
The team has lots of vegetarians and I had to come up with vegetarian spaghetti sauce. I searched the web but ended up experimenting with my basic spaghetti sauce. Onions, bell pepper, carrots, mushrooms, zucchini and the tomatoes and spices from my original sauce. It really turned out yummy. I was excited that I could pull off a vegetarian sauce that was as good as one with meat in it - plus nutritious.

We had 3 crock pots for the sauces, and the noodles I put in an aluminum foil roasting pan on a heated grill. Everything stayed warm. Oh, and I put olive oil over the noodles to keep them from sticking to each other and also some water from cooking them in the bottom of the pan to keep it moist and steamy (not drying out).
There is my handsome man, Brady! He enjoyed having his teammates over for the party!
I rented tables and put blue and gold table clothes on the - our school colors. It looked very festive.

I quickly took a few pictures - they were such good sports!! It makes a mama happy!!
Here are a couple of pictures of Brady and Cherie's Taylor is sitting next to Brady. The sun was shining and eyes are squinty.
After the party a group of kids came into the house while one of the girls played the piano and sang songs. They hung out a while and chatted and had a great time. The party was a success. We had enough yummy food and they loved that I have table and chairs for them.

I'm also VERY thankful for the blessing of sunny weather - since winter is blowing in this week. Thank you Heavenly Father for your many blessings!

I love cross country! Go Warriors!!

7 comments:

Scrappy Girl said...

I love the effort you put in for your kids' stuff. I am sure they feel the love in all the details.

Winter is blowing in here too...I had to dig into the long sleeves and pants for the little ones. I am gonna miss my flip flops...

Ann Marie said...

What a nice spread you did!!
I'm sure it was all yummy!
The work you go to for Brady is awesome! Your a good Momma.

The cold starts here Wednesday. I am so sad.. and cross my fingers that it doesn't kill off ever flower yet...

CB said...

You did a super job!
As you know, Taylor thinks you are AMAZING and so do I!!!

Small House said...

FUN-FUN-FUN!!! You know I love this. What a great job you did. You do everything will so much effort and then some.
Have a great day.
Sandra

Kimmie said...

You are one awesome mom and what a great idea!!

Our team does "pancake runs" on Saturday mornings and they get together and run and then have pancakes. What a great thing you have done to have them all over for dinner and the parents take turns!

I don't think there is anything more yummy in Spaghetti than Zucchini! I would much rather have Zucchini in sauce than meat. It's funny how kids at such a young age are "Vegetarians". Jade is dealing with the same thing on his team.

So glad the weather held out because tonight it's supposed to get into the 20's and tomorrow we're supposed to have a high of 40. I'm not ready for winter yet! I love going to the cross country meets and being in sandals and short sleeve shirts enjoying the nice sunshine!

What a lucky boy Brady is and I bet the Cross Country kids love you as well! Enjoy your day!

Valerie said...

That looks like so much fun for them. I hope they appreciated all your work!

Connie said...

The spaghetti looks delicious! It's great that you do so much for Brady AND his friends! I love it when the group was at my house. I knew where my kids were and got to know their friends better.

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