Life's a Zoo

Kansas City voters just approved a 1/8-cent sales tax for the Zoo! This will generate an estimated $14.2 million a year, which will help to create a better zoo for the community. The best part....they promise to bring PENGUINS to the zoo!

We just recently went to the zoo Halloween weekend. We had a great time, saw lots of animals and even rode the new African Sky Safari ride. We also saw the newest member of the zoo, a polar bear named Nikita. She was so big, and had a little swimming routine she did over and over and over.

here are some pics of our little adventure..

we even saw Timon & Pumba!

A shot from the African Sky Safari

So happy for the zoo, they really need this money. Can't wait to go back and see some penguins!

-Whitney

Squashing the Carbs

Spaghetti squash is one of the weirdest/coolest vegetables I think that I have ever eaten. You bake it, and the inside shreds exactly like spaghetti noodles, minus the carbs, and it tastes great! Just like pasta, you can put whatever kind of sauce on it you want. We made our own spaghetti sauce with ground turkey.

Ingredients

FOR THE SQUASH:

2 spaghetti squash (pictured above)- 1 squash feeds 2 people

Pepper

Italian Seasoning

Garlic Salt

FOR THE SAUCE:

1 lb ground turkey (or beef if you prefer)

1/2 an onion

2 tbsp chopped fresh basil

1 tsp Italian Seasoning

1 tsp garlic powder

1 large can of stewed tomatoes

1 can of tomato sauce

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cut squash in half, and scrape out the seeds. Poke with a fork and season as desired. We used garlic salt, pepper, and Italian Seasoning.

Fill the bottom of a baking dish or cake pan with about a 1/2 inch of water and place the squash halves, inside up, in the dish. Bake for about an hour, or until the squash is tender.

Meanwhile, in a large frying pan cook the turkey meat and Italian Seasoning, breaking it up while it cooks, until it is still a little pink.

Add the onions, garlic powder, tomatoes and tomato sauce and cook for another 5-10 minutes or until onions are soft, turkey is no longer pink and sauce is hot.  Add chopped basil.

Once the spaghetti squash is done cooking, pull the squash out and let it cool a little. If it's too hot it will be hard to scrape the inside.

Using a fork just simply scrape the inside of the squash, it will pull off very easily and will look like pasta.

You can use the outside of the squash as a bowl, and just add your sauce right on top of the squash, with a little Parmesan and more basil as needed.

Enjoy your carb-less spaghetti!

-Whitney