yummy veggie sauce

My sweet friend Bethany inspired me a while back to amp up my spaghetti sauce with her post about it found here. I routinely add veggies to our sauce, but had never tried adding spinach and wanted to give it a whirl.

Abby is at a stage in her toddlerhood where she sometimes likes things and then sometimes doesn't like those same things later. It's frustrating. Usually, the amount of work I put into preparing a meal for her is directly proportional to how much she refuses to eat it. So, I've been struggling to find veggies for her to eat. She loves fruit and dairy. She doesn't care for most meats, but gets plenty of protein. Veggies have been the issue. We've resorted to using the pureed veggies - which she loves because she can now use her spoon.

All that to say - I win. At least tonight- I won. I won because not only did she eat all of her noodles and sauce - but she LOVED it - and...she has no idea how healthy it was. She has no idea that there were 6 or 7 different vegetables that she was loving.

With this meal, the pasta is more like the side dish than the main course. The sauce could stand alone if you wanted it to. Let me show you.

1st - brown a lb of lean ground turkey

I like to season the meat pretty well before adding the other things

Add chopped veggies - whatever you like. Tonight, we did bell peppers, onion, mushrooms, squash, and spinach. I add a bit 'o olive oil and let it cook. In the meantime, cook the pasta of your choice.

Yum! Look at those pretty greens and yellows...wait, that's right, we're still missing something...

....the red!

I add an extra can because I'm making a lot of sauce and like things to remain pretty saucy.

(sidenote: I like Ragu's sauce as it's ingredients are simple and healthy, you'd be amazed at how many sauces have copious amounts of sugar and HFCS)

Add sauce and simmer - season as you like.

we served this over whole wheat rotini & penne and it was delicious!

Shhhh. Don't tell her it's full of vegetables...

Abs ate more tonight for dinner than I think she's eaten in a week. And I couldn't have been happier about that. It's yummy. And the best part is we have plenty for leftovers. :)