By Elizabeth
Like many families, we want to eat healthy on a budget. This
means eating more veggies, which are healthier and cheaper than meat, but not
always everyone's first choice. Our kids love pasta with meaty tomato sauce, so
I wanted to create a sauce that had the thickness and chewiness of a meat
sauce, but with vegetables instead. The yellow squash, carrots, and
onions add sweetness and texture to the tomatoes. "Roasting" the
veggies ahead of time makes them even sweeter and brings out their full flavor.
The veggies are cooked in the slow cooker and then finished
as one of three possible meals: a pasta sauce; a creamy, blended soup; or a
hearty, minestrone-style soup. If you
work during the day, complete Step 1 the night before. The next morning, complete Step 2 and let it
cook on “low” all day while you are at work. The cooking time is flexible. When
you get home, you can finish the meal quickly, using any of the 3 suggestions
below.
We made the pasta sauce
version, and it was a hit with my two boys. Each of them ate two servings at
supper time and will even eat the leftovers, too. I added half of the entire batch of sauce to
one box of whole-grain spaghetti. I froze the rest and plan to re-use it for
the creamy soup version. You could also make a batch and freeze half of the
un-pureed version to finish as minestrone at a later date (adjust pasta and
bean quantities accordingly).
The yellow squash and
carrots give the sauce/ cream soup version a distinctively orange color. If
you’re worried that your family will balk at pasta sauce that isn’t bright red,
try substituting one red bell pepper for one of the squash. It will also add a
sweet, hearty flavor. I would not recommend substituting zucchini for either of
the pureed versions, as this will create a browner, less appealing color. Half
zucchini and half squash would be great for the minestrone version, however.
