Back to School: I Will Survive - And A Veggie Suggestion

Tonight I've had an epiphany, and it is this: I am going to live through this gluten-free back-to-school thing. It didn't feel that way last week, but tonight after football practice, getting together dinners, snacks, tomorrow's lunches, cleaning up from supper, doing things I need to do for Noah, helping with homework, picking kids up from school, cleaning, doing laundry, cooking, running errands, getting hair cuts, and NOT getting any proofreading or writing done (who has time for *actual* work?!), I have taken a deep breath and realized that, "Yes! I can do this!"

Am I the only parent who wasn't ready for school to start? I mean, I had all the bags and crayons and paper and pencils and batteries (hey - I have a special needs kid, the teachers ask for some stuff that seems a bit "out there" to you folks with "normal" lives). But my husband went away (i.e. started a new football season) the same week we started getting up early, going to school, and having practices of our own. And who gets up early the week before to prepare?! Let's do all the suffering at once, people!

But it could have been worse - I could have chosen last week to give up coffee (I plan that big event for the year 2074). Let's face it. I would not be writing about how I was going to survive had that been the case.

So in the big hurry that is my wonderful life (and yours), I decided that from now on, all vegetables will be roasted in the oven (so let it be written, so let it be done). It's easy. You cut up an onion (look up the proper and faster way on youtube), you cut up squash (3 or 4 big, yellow ones) into big, easy chunks. You put it into a casserole dish with olive oil (that healthy, extra virgin variety) and sea salt. And you bake it in the oven at 350 or 400 depending on how soon you will need to be at practice/lessons/church/whateveritisyoudo. It is delicious.

One squash for a small pan, four big ones for a larger one. It really doesn't matter as long as it feeds your tribe.

Serve it outside next to your tomato plants. Because it's pretty.

My nine and two-year-old eat this like it is candy. My two-year-old, when offered this along with spaghetti, ate the squash first while yelling, "Supermom!"

At least, that's the way I remember it.