So in an effort to make spaghetti, chicken parmesean, tortellinis, and a whole host of other pasta dishes my children LOVE, a choice for a meal I can feel good about, I have turned plain ole pasta sauce into a vegetable filled wonder your kids will love too!! It all starts with a lot of love, a little motivation, and a smidge of deceit. Yes, yes, as mothers it is our DUTY to deceive our children from time to time. THIS is one of those times!
It starts with a few basic ingredients: Noodles of your choosing, but go for the whole wheat ones, or even a mixture of half white, half whole wheat if you think your kids (or you) don't like whole wheat noodles. Then pasta sauce of your choosing. Yes, yes, I know, high in sodium, but I have a real problem with canned tomatoes, and kid's prefer canned sauce, so for us, a small glass jar of Prego is my choice. I prefer Prego because the ingredient list is pretty short, and no HFCS! You'll only need a small jar because the vegetables you are about to add will make it all saucy. And don't throw away that jar!! Olive oil, your choice of meat, three bell peppers (you choose the colors, I use one red, one green, one orange), half a sweet onion, mushrooms, and your choice of a squash (I prefer zucchini, but butternut is a good choice too!). And whatever pasta cheeses you like, of course!
Start cutting vegetables and dump them all into the large pot you are going to be making your sauce in. Mix it up, cut 'em whatever size you'd prefer to eat, because it won't matter (deceit, remember, we'll be employing it later). I do cut mine pretty small to reduce cook time. Dump the sauce on top and simmer with a lid. It takes a good while, but you'll have a nice sauce when it's done. I don't even add any seasoning because it isn't necessary. It's done when all your veges are soft.
Here is the vegetables and Prego mixed together and covered to simmer.
Here it is about 20 minutes later. See? Saucy.
While the sauce is cooking, I prepare my meat. Usually it is just ground meat (we eat mostly venison, but turkey, chicken, or beef are fine) for us, but sometimes I cut some chicken breasts for some chicken parmesean, which is what I've done for the purpose of this blog (just coincidence). I battered them in some whole wheat italian bread crumbs and browned them in some olive oil. With ground meat, you won't need the olive oil. Once the meat is cooked, you can add it to your sauce. For the chicken, I just lay it on top later, so no need to add. You also, obviously, don't NEED the meat. We just like it better with meat, but that is totally a choice. This sauce is just as good without anything else.
Once your sauce is done, break out the blender!!! You read that right, break out your blender. It is time to deceive your precious offspring. First off, that jar I insisted you keep, be sure to leave it out on the counter somewhere. Now, I'm not saying you should tell them your sauce is purely Prego, but if they assume, who are you to change their assumptions? :) Dump or spoon your sauce into the blender. (I LOVE this sauce so much, so I always save some the way that it is, because my husband and I love eating it unblended.) Blend it up and serve it up. It's also great leftover, so if you have way too much, freeze half for another day :)
Top with some cheese, and they'll never know. You may even hear a, "Mom, this is the best spaghetti you ever made!" I've heard it many times!! That tastes better than the sauce, I promise :)
