• Dairy Free
• Gluten Free
• Kid Friendly
• Pasta
• Vegan
• Vegetarian

• 1 lb ground hamburger, bison, or turkey (optional if vegetarian or vegan -can add cauliflower or garbanzo beans)
• 1 jar organic spaghetti sauce
• 1 box quinoa noodles or linguini/ or 1 spaghetti squash (if Paleo)
• Nutritional yeast
• Real Salt and fresh pepper to taste

Veggies for that healthy part:
• ½ onion - diced
• 2-3 cloves garlic - minced
• 2 stalks celery, strings removed - diced
• 1 large or 10-12 baby carrots - sliced or shredded
• 4-5 shiitake mushrooms diced
• 2 stalks kale, stems included – diced or shredded
• 2-3 swiss chard leaves – diced or shredded

Optional herbs: (add a 1 tsp of any or all)
• basil
• oregano
• thyme
• sweet marjoram
• rosemary

1. Prepare spaghetti squash if using*
2. In 3 quart sauce pan, add meat and veggies and cook until meat is browned and veggies soft (add a little water to veggies if not using meat)
3 Add optional herbs if using
4. Add spaghetti sauce and mix thoroughly
5. Add salt and pepper to taste
6. Let sauce simmer while cooking noodles/squash
7. Cook quinoa noodles according to package directions and drain
8. Spoon sauce over the noodles/squash
9. Sprinkle on nutritional yeast
10. Enjoy!

*To prepare spaghetti squash:
1. Pierce spaghetti squash with fork so it will not burst while baking.
2. Place whole squash in a shallow baking pan.
3. Bake in preheated 375 F oven for 1 hour.
4. Cool, cut squash in half lengthwise.
5. Scoop seeds and fibrous strings from the center of squash.
6. Gently scrape around the edge of the each half of squash to shred the pulp into strands with a dinner fork

While working on developing a cooking class for kids, I decided to come up with a way to get a few more veggies into the kids without them really tasting them. Turns out the kids loved helping cut up the veggies and eating the dish even knowing about all those yummy veggies and I had a quick new healthier recipe for my family!