Nik’s Vegetarian “Meat” Sauce

Sorry about the stove…if I’d know you were coming over… šŸ˜‰
So I thought itā€™d be nice, after all the flurry of the
Pledge, to post aboutā€¦food. Remember when we used to talk about food? Me too!
Letā€™s start doing that again!
This is a quick one but, as always, thereā€™s a story.
My youngest child has decided to become vegetarian. This is
not the first time sheā€™s done this. Sheā€™s never much cared for meat, especially
meat that looks like meat. It bothers
her deeply to think that sheā€™s consuming an animal.
While Iā€™m not vegetarian I respect the fact that she (at 12
years old) came to that decision for herself. But life is not easy for a
vegetarian kid living in a meat consuming household. Very often it was hard to
find that wonderful place in the middle of the Venn diagram that is my oldest
child, a self-proclaimed ā€œmeatitarianā€ and my youngest.

But recently ā€“ EUREKA! ā€“ I found a ray of hope. Quite to my surprise my oldest likes Boca Burgers. That brings us to
last night, when I wanted to make ONE dinner that feels like dinner. The eldest
had been wanting spaghetti. While I could have made a veggie spaghetti (and
grumbled while the oldest picked out most of the veggies and fed them to our
beloved Basset Hound when she thought I
wasnā€™t looking), I decided to try to build upon her like of Boca meat by using
Boca crumbles instead of meat.
(NOTE: This isnā€™t a review for Boca products, but you can
look them up for yourself here.)
Hereā€™s the recipe. After Iā€™ll tell you how it was received.
Nikā€™s Vegetarian
Spaghetti & ā€œMeatā€ Sauce
Ingredients:
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 1 green pepper, diced
  • 1 clove garlic minced (or one heaping tsp of jarred minced
    garlic)
  • 12 oz. Boca crumbles (they come in a 12 oz. bag)
  • 1 jar low-sugar spaghetti sauce (I usually get the most
    basic kind and doctor it up myself, as youā€™ll see below)
  • 1 tsp. Italian seasoning (or, if you donā€™t have that but
    have dried basil, the same amount)
  • Ā½ tsp. red pepper flakes (less or none if you donā€™t like
    spicy stuff)

Optional (and had it just been me and The Younger, I would
have used), a variety of colorful diced veggies like zucchini, yellow squash,
red peppers, eggplant, really anything!
Directions:
Spray a pan with nonstick cooking spray, set it over medium
heat and allow it to get hot.
Add onions and peppers (and any other veggies youā€™re using) and
saute about 2-3 minutes, until they begin to soften.
Add the Boca crumbles and stir into the veggie mixture.
Allow it to cook about 3-4 minutes.
Add spaghetti sauce and seasonings and stir. Bring it to a
boil, then drop the heat down to medium-low, allowing it to simmer about 10-15
minutes more. The sauce should be a deeper shade of red when finished.
NOTE: This can be made with whatever ground meat substitute
you like. I am trying to watch my younger daughterā€™s soy intake to make sure
she doesnā€™t just eat soy as a meat replacement. I know thatā€™s a concern for some
of you as well.
NOWā€¦I served this to them atop whole-wheat thin spaghetti. I
always eat just the sauce, chili-style, with tons of grated Parmesan on top.
The Elder? She loved it! Interestingly, I didnā€™t tell her it
was vegetarian. The fact that her sister was eating it should have clued her in
butā€¦14 year-olds are sometimes self-absorbed, so what can we do? Iā€™m just glad I
have a good fall-back dinner everyone can eat!

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