I finally finished my matching pajamas, using the Wide Leg Lounge Pants pattern from In Stitches (Amy Butler’s equally awesome book for grown-ups). As every other blogger who has made them has noted, they are indeed WIDE. But oh my goodness seriously comfy. I couldn’t get my self-timer/camera/baby situation organized to take a picture of us together, but here is a little peek at what they look like on me

I trimmed the bottoms with the same polka dot flannel I used on the baby’s jammies, you just can’t see it here. I slept in them last night and didn’t want to take them off this morning. I worried the flannel might be sort of stiff or too heavy for such a lot of pant, but it drapes and flows very nicely and doesn’t bunch up when you toss & turn.

I also figured I’d share another of my made-up recipes, the price for which is listening to the long story of its conception, as follows: While my mother was here helping me with HMB a few months ago, she discovered that the fancy grocery store near my house had really great specials, and that if you bought what they had on sale, you got a higher quality, cheaper meal than buying regular priced stuff at Safeway or TJs (you all probably already know stuff like this, but I just used to avoid the nearby spendy market in favor of the everyday places). Anyway, since that discovery, I walk HMB to the spendy market and we are inspired by whatever is on sale. Last week it was ground beef, so on Friday we had burgers for dinner. I cannot do burgers more than one day a month, so I was left with 1/2 pound of very good beef. What to do? Make spaghetti with meat sauce (one of Moondoggie’s favorite things). Every meat sauce recipe I could find was really complicated, which is not my thing these days, so I figured I could just make it up with things already in my pantry. And you know what? It turned out delicious. I really don’t care for red sauce, or really, I only like northern Italian red sauce that is more thick, rich and sweet than thin, acidic and tangy. So this comes out more like Bolognese than Boyardee.

Made Up Meat Sauce (as always, you could skip the meat if you just wanted tomato)
½ lb ground beef (i used extra lean b/c that was what was on special)
15 oz can diced tomatoes
8 oz can tomato paste
½ sweet onion, diced
3 large cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dried basil
½ tsp dried oregano
a few shakes chili flakes
1T sugar
2T olive oil

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Throw in onions and let cook until translucent. Mush garlic and salt into a paste and put in skillet. Let cook for a minute or so. Add basil, oregano and chili flakes and stir for a minute or so. Add ground beef and brown, breaking into bits as you stir it. Once it is nicely browned, add tomatoes, paste and sugar. Stir to combine and turn heat to low and simmer for 10-15 minutes (about as long as it takes dry pasta to cook). Serve with 1/2 lb whole wheat spaghetti or your choice of pasta!

Hope you enjoy it!