spaghetti with veggies

I am trying to incorporate more meatless meals into our diet. I have nothing against meat, I just know that it's not necessary to have at every meal. It can also be expensive, so spacing it out over the week can save lots of money, too. We usually have meat sauce for our spaghetti, but I wanted to try something meatless, yet still delicious and satisfying. The options are endless here... as you can add any veggies you like. I am going to leave off the amounts of the veggies, since you can add as many or as little as you want.

ingredients:

homemade spaghetti sauce (recipe here)

any kind of pasta (I used angel hair)

1 or 2 cans diced tomatoes (I used italian style)

fresh mushrooms

onion

bell pepper (any color you want)

minced garlic

directions:

1. make homemade sauce (or really, any sauce you want) and let simmer for an hour. add in the can or two of diced tomatoes.

2. boil your pasta according to directions. set aside.

3. in a medium saucepan, add about 2 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp butter. let it get hot before throwing in the veggies.

4. dice up veggies, and add them to the pan. stir around until they are golden brown and soft. add salt and pepper, and the minced garlic about a minute before you remove the veggies from the heat. (you don't want the garlic to burn.)

5. pour the cooked veggies directly into the sauce and continue to let simmer for another 10-15 min.

6. the sauce is ready! serve it over your pasta with a little parmesan cheese. enjoy!

simple pasta

I got creative in my kitchen the other night and came up with such a yummy pasta dish. I mostly just used what I already had on hand. I didn't use any measurements, but I will try to approximate what I did. You can easily change the amounts due to your liking, or how many servings you need. Enjoy!

ingredients:

pasta (any kind... i used regular spaghetti because it's what I had)

1 can diced tomatoes (i used the italian flavor)

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 cup shredded parmesan cheese

1 cup frozen chopped spinach

1 cup olive oil

1/2 tsp minced garlic

2 tbsp butter

1/2 cup bread crumbs

salt and pepper

directions:

1. preheat oven to 350.

2. boil pasta according to directions. remember to keep it al dente since it will be going in the oven for a bit. set aside.

3. in a large bowl, mix diced tomatoes with olive oil. whisk together well to make sure they are well incorporated.

4. add everything except the butter and bread crumbs. mix together well.

5. add pasta and mix well with the sauce.

6. pour pasta and sauce into a baking dish. top with bread crumbs and dot with pieces of butter.

7. bake until top is golden brown and the sides are slightly bubbly.

8. enjoy!