Vegetarian Spaghetti Sauce

I wanted spaghetti, but I didn't want to use TVP (textured vegetable protein) or have thin, soupy sauce. So I just started chopping vegetables and throwing them in! My Mom used to call that being a "dump cook" (dump it in the pot and see what happens). So what happened was soooooo delicious! I'm really excited about figuring out a spaghetti sauce that is delicious, satisfying and filling without using meat!

Vegetarian Spaghetti Sauce

1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
1 medium zucchini, chopped
1 medium yellow squash, chopped
4 large carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
8 ounces whole white mushrooms, cleaned, stems removed, sliced
3 large celery ribs, halved lengthwise and sliced thin
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 can Hunt's Traditional Spaghetti Sauce (use your favorite sauce, of course!)
1 - 15 ounce can diced tomatoes
salt and pepper, to taste
dried oregano, to taste
Italian seasoning, to taste
1/4 cup Marsala cooking wine, optional

Spray a Dutch oven with cooking spray. Add olive oil. Add the carrots and cook for a few minutes then add the bell pepper, zucchini, squash, mushrooms, and celery, and stir to coat with oil. Sprinkle a little oregano on vegetables and stir. Cover and cook on medium to medium-low for a few minutes until the vegetables start to soften. Stir often to ensure the vegetables are not scorching. Add a couple of tablespoons of water if you need to. Add the minced garlic and cook a little more.

Add spaghetti sauce and diced tomatoes. Check for seasoning. Add salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning to taste. Let the sauce come to a boil, then lower fire to low, cover and simmer until all vegetables are tender. Add wine, if using. Let sauce cook and reduce a little. Serve on top of whole wheat pasta, barley, quinoa, or just eat plain!

Tip: Clean and save your mushroom stems in a freezer bag to make a delicious stock!

Bob and I wanted pasta tonight (a rare occasion!) and I found this pasta. Look at the fiber grams! Look at the proteins! Look at the list of ingredients! And it tasted good too. It didn't have that gummy, pasty texture I hate in pasta.

Butternut Chicken Marinara

Bob and I have been watching The Biggest Loser from the beginning of the series on Netflix streaming. Mark Kruger from season 5 prepared this dish for his family after he was sent home. I tweaked it just a bit to suit our tastes and made it for dinner tonight. Bob, who's not that big a fan of squash, loved it!

Butternut Chicken Marinara

1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into small/medium chunks
8 chicken tenderloins, cut into pieces
1 large purple onion, sliced
salt and pepper
Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon olive oil
Pam spray
1 jar/can marinara sauce (I use cheapo Hunt's Traditional spaghetti sauce)

Spray Pam in a large skillet. Add chicken, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. Cover and cook on medium heat until almost done. Uncover and finish cooking the chicken. When chicken is done, take out of the skillet and set aside.

Spray more Pam into the skillet.  Add onions and squash. (You will probably not use all the squash...just save and freeze or cook tomorrow) Add the olive oil, cover and cook on medium-low heat. Add a little water if needed to help the squash cook. When the squash is cooked, uncover and let it saute a bit. Add the chicken back into the skillet and let everything cook together for a couple of minutes. Pour in the marinara sauce and stir. Add Italian seasoning, cover and cook until sauce is cooked.

Note: I tasted this before I added the marinara sauce and it was amazing! If you want to eat it like this, let the chicken and squash mixture saute a little longer.

Quick Barbecued Chicken

Okay, I'm from the South. It's my job to eat barbecue. Really! It is! Would I lie to you? But I don't always want to go outside to cook it on the grill. Yes, sometimes I want that good, smokey flavor. But sometimes I just wish I could make really good barbecue in my kitchen. Well, leave it to Lorna Sass to come up with a pressure cooker recipe. This recipe is from her book, Cooking Under Pressure, which I highly recommend. See the sidebar of my favorite tools for my favorite pressure cooker. Makes my cooking life so much easier. Don't ask where's the picture. It smelled so good when it finished cooking that we just ate it up right away! I had a breast leftover, which I used a couple of days later for pizza. I'll post that recipe in a bit. Next time I make this (which won't be long) I'll take a photo...if I can wait to eat it long enough! LOL!

Quick Barbecued Chicken

2 tablespoons oil
3 to 4 pounds chicken parts, preferably thighs and drumsticks, skinned (I used boneless skinless breasts and some skin on drumsticks)
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped onions
1 large green bell pepper, seeded and diced (optional) (I used 1/2 half green and 1/2 red bell peppers)
2 cups prepared barbecue sauce

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in the cooker. Brown the chicken well on both sides in small batches, adding extra oil as needed. Set the browned chicken on a platter. Pour of or sop up leftover oil if needed.

Add the water, taking care to scrape up any browned bits (the fancy cooking term for this is suc) sticking to the bottom.

Place the onions and green pepper (if using) in the bottom of the cooker. Add the reserved browned chicken plus any juices that have collected on the platter. Pour the sauce on top. Do not stir.

Lock the lid in place and over high heat bring to high pressure. Adjust the heat to maintain high pressure and cook for 9 minutes. (I cooked for 15 minutes since I had large pieces of breasts) Reduce the pressure with a quick-release method. Remove the lid, tilting it away from you to allow steam to escape.

Place the chicken on individual plates or a serving platter. If the sauce is too thin, tent the chicken with aluminum foil, and boil the sauce vigorously until reduced. Spoon the sauce on top of the chicken and serve.

Variation Note: There's no reason you can't do ribs this way. Just set your pressure cooker for the time recommended for ribs. Hmmm...this winter might be a big barbecue eatin' winter!!!

Spaghetti Sauce Tip

As with the cornbread, I'm not going to post a recipe for spaghetti sauce...my recipe is really simple...Hunt's Traditional Spaghetti Sauce! LOL! I just brown my ground beef with some salt, pepper, garlic powder and oregano then add a can of diced tomatoes and the Hunts spaghetti sauce.

But here's my tip: Get a package of fresh baby portabella mushrooms, clean 'em up, slice 'em up and substitute 1/2 of the package of ground beef with the mushrooms. Add them when you add your sauce to the beef. Many vegetarians use portabella mushrooms as a substitute for meat and they are so delicious and nutritious. You've just saved money, fat, and calories. And you've just added some good, healthy carbs to your dinner. You can add any mushrooms you like; I use baby bellas because they are more meaty and we like the taste so much better than white buttons.

I know the gourmet chefs have a fancy little brush they "dust off" the mushrooms with and they say that you shouldn't use water to wash mushrooms. Well, they're going to get wet when I put them in my spaghetti sauce anyway, so what's the difference? And, oh by the way, mushrooms are grown in d.i.r.t.  I'm gonna wash those little suckers!

Those of us with gastric bypass surgery don't eat pasta so I've found that at my house, we like to have our spaghetti sauce over some cottage cheese or ricotta cheese. Sprinkle with Parmesan or even shredded cheddar or mozarella and nuke for about 15-30 seconds to melt the cheese and you have a wonderful, nutritious dinner!