Spaghetti Night

Tonight we plan to have spaghetti for dinner.  Spaghetti seems like it should be a simple meal, right?  It tends to be one of our standard "go to" meals when we don't know what else to have.  It's easy to keep a box of pasta on hand and a jar of sauce.

But I've realized that with all of our particularities, it's becoming a bigger deal.

I prefer Ronzoni's Healthy Harvest pasta.  Thin spaghetti, to be exact.  I think Jeff has a slight preference for Barilla Plus but I can get away with the Ronzoni stuff because it's usually half the price of the Barilla.  I absolutely cannot do plain white pasta anymore.

Sauce almost always has to be Prego Roasted Garlic & Herb.  We are going to try a generic brand tonight (Target store brand) since it was significantly less expensive.

That's the basics.  Then it starts to get complicated.

We basically end up creating a "pasta bar."  We each have our own way of enjoying our spaghetti.

Jeff and Zach are pretty classic- straight up pasta and sauce.  No spices, no seasonings.  Jeff likes the classic Grated Parmesan Cheese (which I dislike immensely).  Zach doesn't care much about cheese either way.

Teagan doesn't like pasta sauce.  For as much as that girl loves tomatoes, she does not like tomato products.  So she does plain pasta with cheese.  She likes the grated stuff but, like me, prefers real parmesan or asiago cheese.

I doctor mine up like crazy.  I recently discovered that a dollop of sour cream makes the dish especially yummy.  I also add a seasoning blend that is made up of garlic, salt, and pepper (and other spices) so it has some zing to it.  If I'm feeling really ambitious, I might saute some mushrooms or squash to add in.

Tonight we're adding meatballs to the efforts.  If I had to make a guess- Jeff and Zach will consume the most meatballs.  Jeff will have his with his pasta, Zach might want his on the side.  I will most likely have at least one meatball but will cut it up and mix it into the dish.  If Teagan eats any meatballs, they will be without sauce and cut up on the side.

I might pick up a bag of salad on the way home.  But salad isn't necessary for our pasta night.  Sometimes I think about making some garlic butter toast but usually don't.  We never stray from the red sauce.  I do venture out to other pasta varieties and sauces if Jeff isn't around for dinner.  We tried to throw together our own sauce one night when we had pasta going but discovered that the jar we thought we had in the pantry wasn't there... but we had cans of tomato sauce and diced tomatoes.  We gave it our best effort and it was edible but not fantastic.

I'd love to someday have a themed dinner night with candles and Italian music playing.  Or maybe have spaghetti while we watch Lady and the Tramp.

How do you do spaghetti night?