30 and counting on....sauce.

A recipe this week!  You deserve it!  Thank you for reading thus far.  I do so appreciate it. 

The recipe below is for a great alternative to Bolognese or any meat sauce.  Sure, sausage is tasty.  Sure, I wish there were vegetables that tasted like bacon.  But this sauce is a good substitute in terms of being filling and hearty without harming any animals in the process.  It's also a great short-cut meal.  It's all done in the food processor, which we like, right?   

Now that I think of it, pepper flake might be a good addition to the ingredient list.  Customize and feedback as you will!  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

olive oil
1 med onion
3-5 cloves of garlic (as you like)
broccoli (about one cup raw)
carrots (a good handful of baby carrots or two grown-up carrots)
1 red or orange pepper
1 or 2 zuchini or yellow squash (optional - they're good for filler)
crimini/portobella mushrooms (one cup, also)
fresh basil
tomato sauce (2-4 cans depending on how sauce-y you like it. Last time I made this, I used Trader Joe's canned marinara in the big cans and it was hassle-free and good.)

Finely chop the onion. Put the vegetables, one at a time, separately, into the food processor and pulse until they are coarsely chopped - fine, but not too fine.  Chopping everything ahead of time makes this much easier, so get it out of the way. 

Put lots of olive oil in a big frying pan (more than you would normally use to sautee something) over medium heat. Saute the onion for 2 minutes or so, once it starts to turn translucent, add carrots, then peppers, then broccoli, then squash waiting about a minute or two between each ingredient. Mushrooms go in last. Saute until all ingredients are tender. Add sauce to coat. The less sauce, the more 'meaty' it seems, but add as you like it. Salt and pepper to taste. The last thing to add is fresh basil, chopped into ribbons.

Serve over spaghetti or your pasta of choice.