Vegetable Spaghetti Sauce

This is a hit at our house!  It makes a very hearty, thick and chunky veggie spaghetti sauce.  We had a ton of it left over one day and made a homemade wheat pizza crust and just spread the sauce on the top, no cheese, and baked it and it was so good, Jocelyn ate only the sauce and vegetables and left the crust.  This recipe is from 101 More Things to do With a Slow Cooker.  You just have to love anything that starts out looking like this in the pot, right?

1 large onion, chopped
8-10 baby carrots, cut in thirds
2 cans (4 oz.) mushroom pieces, drained (or one 8 oz. package of fresh mushrooms
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 cans (14.5 oz. each) diced Italian tomatoes, with liquid
1 can (15 oz.) tomato sauce
1 can (6 oz.) Italian-style tomato paste
2 tsp. sugar (I did agave)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. italian seasoning

Combine all ingredients in greased slow cooker.  Cover and cook on low heat 6-8 hours.  Stir well and serve over hot cooked spaghetti or other pasta.

South of the Border Pasta

I got this original recipe off of Allrecipes.com, and have switched it up a bit. Also, I renamed it, I like the sound of 'South of the Border Pasta' rather than what they had it called.

South of the Border Pasta

1/2 pound whole wheat pasta
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
1 onion chopped
1 pepper (red, yellow, orange or green) chopped
1/2 cup sweet corn kernels
1 (15 ounce)can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (14.5 ounce) can peeled and diced tomatoes
1/4 cup salsa
Juice of one lime
1 packet taco seasoning mix
1/4 cup olives
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese


Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Cook Pasta until al dente

While pasta is cooking, heat olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Cook onions and pepper in oil until lightly browned. Stir in corn and heat through. Stir in black beans, tomatoes, salsa, olives, taco seasoning.

Cook until heated.

Transfer sauteed veggies and noodles into a baking dish.
Sprinkle with cheese. Cover with foil.
Bake 20 minutes. Remove foil and let cheese melt (about another 5 minutes)

We serve ours topped with green onions, avocado, sour cream and halved grape tomato.

Also, the great thing about recipes like this is that you can put anything else into it, or omit anything. I was thinking that a fajita one would be good too, with fajita seasoning and all three kinds of peppers and then onions.

(Oh, and, can someone teach me how to make my words red? I can't seem to figure it out, since I don't have that option on my blog layouts, and I don't know where to go to change it.)

This Was a Crowd Pleaser

This recipe was one I got from Super Healthy Kids, and modified a bit. It didn't look like anything special, but my husband asked me to add it to the rotation, (a very good sign) and it was the first dinner that Drew has voluntarily eaten in a week. Parker also gave it a thumbs up. Paige will eat anything, so take that for what it's worth. To see the original recipe, click here.


Pasta and Veggies with Sauce:
For the sauce:
Melt 3 Tbsp. butter and whisk in 3 Tbsp. flour to make a roux. Let simmer for 1 minute, then add 1 c. broth, 1/2 tsp. oregano, and 1/2 tsp. pepper. At this point, I thought it looked more like gravy than a pasta sauce so I added some milk, (maybe 3/4 c.?) and a couple handfuls of cheese. I used a mix of cheddar and parmesan, probably totalling about a cup, (I'm pretty heavy-handed with cheese). Am I fired from the blog? I know that probably totally "unhealthified" that recipe.....but it sure made it tasty.

For the veggies:
Saute 1/2 onion in olive oil until tender. Add 2 cloves of garlic, 2 c. cauliflower, 2 c. broccoli, and 1 pkg. peas. Sir in 1/2 c. broth, bring to a boil, cover and simmer until veggies are tender.

Toss all of the above together with 1 box of cooked whole wheat linguine. Serve with a sprinkling of parmesan on top.

Here's where I have a question....I noticed at the grocery store that there are all sorts of different labels for the "brown" pasta. What's the best? I bought some that said "whole grain" but is that as good for you as whole wheat? Is that like buying "wheat bread" instead of "100% whole wheat?"

Fiesta Rotini

Great as a meal with a couple veggie sides or as a more substantial snack to keep in the fridge. My boys really like it.

Fiesta Rotini

1 box whole wheat rotini (did you know Walmart makes a brand now? $1.00/box)
2 tbsp. olive oil
4 cloves minced garlic
1 med onion chopped finely (more or less depending on your tastes)
2 small-med zucchini chopped into cubes
1/3 cup pepperocini peppers, chopped (if you didn't want to have that added expense it would be fine without)
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 14oz can diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained
1 can olives, sliced in half (the olives not the can... hehe)
Grated Parmesan (if you want it vegan I'm sure it would taste good without... you could maybe add some nutritional yeast for a cheesy flavor... haven't tried it but I bet it would work)

Cook Rotini according to package directions. In large pan cook garlic and onion in oil until soft. Add zucchini and peppers. Cook 2 min stirring occasionally. Add chili powder, tomatoes and olives. Bring to boil and reduce heat and simmer until zucchini cooked to desired state (don't over cook them!). Put drained rotini in large bowl, pour sauce over and toss. Serve with grated parm.

This one is good hot or cold. If you wanted to add cooked black beans to this I bet it would taste nice too.

Basic Basil Pesto- Pesto Pasta- Basic Hummus -

Hello dear friends.

I wanted to comment on a few things that we've been talking about in our e-mails and then leave a new recipe.

K-

I LOVED Food, Inc. Such a powerful movie and made me so happy about my decision to go meatless. After watching it Corey decided to give up beef completely- as in FOREVER- well... until we can afford organic that is :) But still, I was totally thrilled about that. I wish so much we could afford "liquid gold," as Cal (my brother/Whit's hubby) calls it aka. Organic Milk. Someday. I think it is totally cool Katie that you are going to have your own chickens. Your eggs will be AWESOME! If you need any advice on it I would be happy to pass along questions to my grandparents who have raised chickens and gathered eggs for years. My Grandpa names his chickens the most adorable names and cares for his "girls." I remember specifically one chicken named "Babette." Awesome. I plan on renting a plot from the city this summer to garden... do you think they would let me put chickens in?

Emily: Kate has a great home-made laundry soap recipe... 2 actually. I have tried the liquid one that she recommends and really like it. I may be trying her dry one too as she likes it even better. The liquid one is less than a penny per load. Pretty awesome.

Kate: I am so excited to check out the things you recommended. Monsanto is the DEVIL! When you watch Food, Inc. I am sure you will agree. I will be picking up that movie and browsing those sites. Food, Inc. has a site too and you can sign a petition to improve school lunches. There is a link on the side of my blog for anyone that cares to check it out. Also, I tried that Vegan Lasagna Recipe because I have yet to find a normal veggie lasagna that I love. Would you share your recipe? I really liked that vegan one- and Corey did too which really surprised me- but I would love to try another one too.

Kate and Whit: I have tried that pizza crust recipe and have never been able to really make it work. I am pretty sure this is totally my fault though. Any tips on how to make it great?

Whit: Concerning stringy polluck: I think the recipe that I used it for helped. I didn't try to cut it up for something like fish tacos. I made it in a fish sandwhich so I didn't really notice the stringy-ness much because I basically kept the fillets whole. Does that make sense? Was it when you were trying to cut it that it was stringy or eating it? I thought it would be stringy to cut but after it was cooked it didn't have a stringy consistency at all. Does that help at all?

Okay now for a recipe share. I know you asked Whitney for hers, but I will share mine too if you are interested (Emily also makes DIVINE pesto and she has a bunch of variations too):

Basic Basil Pesto

2 cups packed fresh basil (I am sad you only have walmart near you kate -other places are SO much cheaper- you might try growing it yourself this summer. I did that one summer and got several batches of pesto from it- the plant is cheap and I was able to grow it in my kitchen)
2-3 cloves minced garlic
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/3 cup olive oil
kosher salt
1/2 cup parmesan or asiago or romano cheese (or blend of any of those cheeses)

Blend in food processor until smooth.


Pesto Pasta This is another one of my go-to easy things like the teriyaki bowls. We eat it in the summer a LOT.

Short Whole Wheat Pasta -such as rotini or penne
Pesto
Chopped Fresh tomatoes (usually 1 roma tomato per person)

Cook the pasta according to directions. Stir in pesto and serve with fresh tomatoes on top.


Basic Hummus This is as basic as it gets. You can add TONS of different things to it- artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, tahini etc. I'm sure you could find something fancy but I thought I'd just share the easiest, cheapest form that I know of. We really like it :)

1 (15 oz) can garbanzo beans
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt

Drain garbanzo beans reserving 1/3 cup liquid. Place drained beans, and all other ingredients in food processor. Process until smooth adding reserved liquid until you reach your desired consistency.