Summers Secret

For 30-minute Thursday let's start with what I made my kids for lunch. I don't like to buy a lot of processed/boxed foods for my family but every once in awhile I will give in but try to make it a little more healthy. So I started with a box like this....

And it ended up looking like this......

Can anyone see the "secret ingredient"? It's not ground turkey or peas. I add the ground turkey for more substance to the meal and I add peas cause I tell my kids they need to eat at least 1 vegetable with lunch and they like peas. Summer Squash just happens to have a very similar look and color to the cheese and noodles. It's not really a secret anymore but the first time my kids had this it took them awhile to figure out what it was. SECRET= I grate 1 yellow squash about the size of the mac n cheese box to the ground turkey when it's almost done cooking just to soften it up. I recommend gradually adding in things to mac n cheese if you don't already. I have almost always made mac n cheese with peas and/or cubed ham so my kids are used to more than just the mac and the cheese and 1 box will feed more mouths this way.

For dinner I made SPAGHETTI! I know there's nothing new or special about making spaghetti in 30 minutes. But another little summer secret is I add ZUCCHINI to our spaghetti. My kids don't even notice with the other green(Italian seasoning) in there. If I make a smaller batch of sauce that will only feed my family of four for that night I will only use 1 large zucchini. If I want to be able to refrigerate or freeze some for a later date than I will add 2 zucchini's to the  sauce batch.

I enjoy sharing this SUMMERS SECRET and hope someone can benefit from it.