Monday, April 21, 2014

Semi-homemade Vegetarian Spaghetti Sauce

In my quest to be healthier, I've started using more "superfoods", foods that have high nutrition content for their serving size. I've also been just plain eating more fruits and vegetables. Cutting out meat is a related choice, but not one that I'm pushing on anyone - not even my family. I still cook meat for them. For tonight's dinner, though, I was going to try something new.

This is probably actually vegan, but I'm not making that claim. I thought I had seen a recipe in one of my vegetarian or vegan cookbooks for hemp seeds in pasta sauce. Turns out I hadn't, so I went on an hour-long internet search. That didn't help, either.

I found several make-from-scratch alfredo sauces, and a few other recipes, but I couldn't find anything that would tell me how much hemp seeds to add to a store-bought jar of marinara sauce. I didn't need an exact amount, but I wanted enough to add some protein to the dish, but not so much that it was overwhelming. I had hopes that the kids would at least try it, so I didn't want to freak them out. They heard me mention carrots, though, so that didn't work out.

For those who don't know, hemp seeds are packed full of nutrition, and no, you can't get high on them. They contain no THC.

This isn't an exact recipe, but having it here will help me find it later, and maybe it will help someone else out, too.

I sauteed an onion, and chopped up the three carrots we had in the fridge to add to the pan.

Once the onions were soft, I poured in the jar of Muir Glen Italian Herb sauce, and pressed a clove of garlic into the pan. (It was a large clove, but adjust to your preferences.) I was guessing on the hemp seeds, but I used 1/3 cup, and it was just right.

We also had some kale that needed to be used, so I chopped that up and added it to the sauce, just long enough to soften it a little. (I don't care for raw kale.)

Add to your favorite noodles (I use gluten-free), and serve.

I didn't think to take a picture, but I'll try to remember next time, and add it to this post. ;-)


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