My children are not big on eating their vegetables. “You will be more like Popeye” only goes so far in my house. I have found that sautéing the vegetables and adding them to sauces can help get the kids moving in the vegetable direction.
This week I am offering my sauce from last night. I had a LOT of zucchini in the freezer from May’s Angel Food and wanted to add some zest to my pasta.
Recipe for Vegetable Marinara with Whole Wheat Pasta
1 can spaghetti sauce, 26.5 oz. $1 ½ jar of roasted red peppers, chopped $2 One medium Vidalia onion, chopped Angel Food Two cups zucchini, chopped Angel Food ½ stick of butter $.75 1 bag whole wheat pasta $2 1 tsp. kosher salt
In a large pot, melt the ½ stick of butter on medium heat. Add chopped onions and cover. Let sit for several minutes before adding salt and chopped zucchini then cover and let simmer on medium low heat for about ten minutes. Add chopped roasted red peppers and cover for an additional five minutes. Pour in spaghetti sauce and cover to simmer until the pasta cooks through.
In a separate large pot, heat one gallon of water until boiling. Open pasta and pour into boiling water. Reduce the heat to low and let the pasta simmer until cooked to a texture you prefer. Keep in mind that whole wheat pasta will take a little longer than other pastas.
The kids said that the sauce tasted sweat to them. I think sautéing the onions brings out their natural sweetness. I served the sauce liberally over the pasta and sprinkled with some parmesan cheese.
The whole batch cost me less than $10 even if I had to purchase the vegetables. Adding some ground sausage or meatballs to this meal would make the meat lovers happy and still keep me under my $10 limit.
Do you have any secrets for hiding vegetables?