First Time Mom and Losing It

**I received the product below free for my review. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be a good fit for my readers. All opinions are 100% my own.

I have been using the old fashioned manual can openers since I can remember. They work well when you first get them and then they start turning on you after a while. First you have to turn it a certain way for it to work and then you have to work like crazy squeezing and turning the handle until your hand hurts. That's when you know it's time to get a new one.

It was about that time to get a new one but then I decided to try something different. The Bartelli Soft Edge Automatic Can Opener came into my life at the perfect time!. I wanted a can opener that was automatic and that opened the can with a soft edge.

The first thing you have to do is get 4 AA batteries. I kind of wish it was rechargeable but the batteries should last a long time since I only open a few cans a week. It was super easy to use by just placing the guide on the edge of the can and pressing the button. The can opener works by itself so you don't have to place your hand on top or hold it. Once the opener goes all the way around the can you press the button again and it stops. It has a magnetic part underneath the opener that picks up the top. I love that I don't have to carefully pry open the lid like when you use a manual opener. The soft edge feature allows the lid to stay in place until you are ready to use the contents of the can.

I put the Bartelli Automatic Soft Edge can opener to good use by opening a can of crushed tomatoes and a can of tomato paste to make my Healthy Hearty Meat Sauce and Pasta Recipe.

A great Mother's Day present would be to have dinner ready quick and easy and something the toddler wouldn't fight to eat. She does love her pasta and tomato sauce so I started getting sneaky and adding some diced veggies to my homemade tomato sauce. As soon as my toddler spotted the diced green peppers she told me this is "yucky" and started picking everything out of her pasta bowl.

First I went to Walmart to pick up some veggies, cans of tomato sauce and Barilla® Penne. After trying to dice the veggies smaller and it took too long, I decided to dump everything into my food processor and pulse away. I added carrots, peppers, mushrooms and onions and pulsed until it was very finely chopped. Since the vegetables were chopped so finely it released a lot of liquid so I placed the veggies on top of a flour sack towel and squeezed all the moisture away.


After the veggies were dry, I added them to a hot sauce pan with olive oil and some minced garlic. I stirred the veggies until they were softened. Then I added a can of crushed tomatoes and a can of tomato paste. I added some seasonings and stirred on low heat for about 15 minutes. I let the veggie tomato sauce cool and put it into a mason jar to have for the week and some portioned out into ziplock bags in the freezer.


I love having Barilla® pasta on hand at all times because it is one of the few things my daughter will eat without a fight. She loves the penne pasta because she can easily eat it all by herself like a "big girl" I love it because it is super easy to do and with my prepared sauce it takes just minutes for dinner to be done.


Sneaky Veggie Filled Tomato Sauce and Penne (Printable Recipe)

• 1 box of Barilla® Penne
• 2 carrots
• 1 small onion
• 8 button mushrooms
• 1 green pepper
• 1 tblsp olive oil
• 1 large can of crushed tomatoes
• 1 small can tomato paste
• 1 tblsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tblsp dried basil 
• 1/2 tblsp onion powder
• 1/2 tblsp garlic powder

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Barilla. The opinions and text are all mine.

Skinny Shirataki Noodles is an awesome pasta substitute because they are gluten free, soy free, vegan, low carb and contain zero to low calories. These noodles can easily be substituted for spaghetti type pastas in your favorite recipes. You can eat them with tomato sauce, with stir fry vegetables or in chicken noodle soup.


The best part of this brand of shirataki noodles is that they are made in the USA and is one of the only brands that doesn't use soy in their products. They are made from a root vegetable that was discovered in Asia.


I love substituting avocado for fats in my recipes like in salad dressings, so when I discovered the 15 Minute Creamy Avocado Pasta from Oh She Glows I had to try it with the Skinny Noodle Spaghetti to make it lower in calories. The creamy sauce was delicious and the Skinny Noodle Spaghetti just soaked in all of the yummy flavor. I felt like I was eating a big bowl of naughty fatty pasta! The Skinny Noodles Spaghetti that I used for this recipe has 0 calories, 0 net carbs, and 3 grams of fiber per serving (1/2 package).

The sauce is so easy to do that all you have to do is take all of the ingredients below and process them in a food processor (Makes 3 servings):

• 1 medium ripe and pitted avocado
• 1/2 lemon juiced and zest for garnish
• 1-3 garlic cloves
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt, or to taste
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
• 2 tblsp extra virgin olive oil

After making the sauce I thoroughly rinsed the spaghetti by putting them in a colander and running cold water over them. I mixed the spaghetti around and rinsed them again. I did this about three times. Then I patted them dry with paper towels and boiled them in water for about 2 minutes. Drain really well.