Angie:  You are making a lot of this.

Tina:  Well, we have seven for dinner tonight and I thought I would make some to freeze for us to use in a couple of weeks. Saves your mom and me time when we fix double and freeze half for later. And it saves energy too. So, the night I have the second meal, we just whip up a nice salad and cook the noodles and heat up the sauce and then have a meal. Or, if I make too many noodles, I freeze those in serving size and add some sauce and save those. I can have that for lunch or if just Bette and I are here, we can have a quick meal without a whole lot of effort.

Angie:  I’ll have to remember that. With a little planning, you can spend a whole lot less time in the kitchen.

Bette: And you eat healthier food when you eat at home rather than eating out.

Tina: How about putting those onions on the grill. Add a little olive oil and cook them until they are translucent, then add them to the sauce pot. Angie? Don’t cook that broccoli too much now. Oh, and we are going to mix the casserole in that broccoli pot. Suzanne, get two blocks of cream cheese from the fridge. Unwrap them and put them in the microwave for 1 minute. I just want to soften it up. Put it in a small mixing bowl.  Mary, how about you crumbling up some bread. Go get two pounds of butter first. Bette, you help Mary when the onions are done. I need to add the can tomatoes, tomato paste, sauce, herbs, garlic, sugar and maybe a little basil.  What else? Parmesan? Suzanne, you start grating the parmesan. We need at least 2 cups for the broccoli casseroles and a cup to go into the spaghetti sauce, and we will put the balance on the dinner table tonight.

Bette: There go the pie bells. Let’s put them on the table on racks to cool before we put them away. Mary, you want to help me with these? I’m going to put the sweet potatoes in the oven and set the time on those. Need to cook these about an hour?