blended greens pasta sauce

I'm all about ramping up the nutritional value of everyday foods and sneaking veggies into whatever I can.  Try this one on your kids, the final product is U-G-L-Y, but my kids totally dig it.  Read on.....

I had a Costco-sized bag of organic power greens in my fridge that had barely been touched and was about to expire.  This bag has a mix of spinach, kale and chard which is delicious and quite mild.

​ I boiled the entire bag (minus the handful or two that had been taken out for a smoothie) and put it into my blender.  I then added all of it to a pot with a jar of high-quality organic pasta sauce.  As mentioned above, mixing red (pasta sauce) and green (blended veg) turns the final product into an UGLY brown, but I promise it doesn't taste like it looks.  In fact, my kids eat the sauce with veggies better than the plain straight-out-of-the-jar version, I think this is because adding greens seems to neutralize the acidity of the tomato sauce making it a bit less tangy.  

Use the sauce on top of something fun like organic quinoa and brown rice spaghetti noodles, or roasted spaghetti squash, giving yourself an extra dose of wonderful veg!

I've also done this with leftover cooked broccoli in my fridge, and I probably like that version a little better.

Notice how I'm not posting a photo of the final brown sauce?  First, because it's not very photogenic and second because I want you to try it for yourself.  Start with sneaking in a very small amount of veggies, and then add more next time!  

cooked, un-blended greens

blended greens- I added all of this to 1 jar of pasta sauce but I recommend doing less if trying it for the first time.

Beautiful roasted spaghetti squash

So, to recap:
Use very soft cooked broccoli or greens and blend smooth in your blender
Add a small amount at a time to your pot of high quality organic pasta sauce, you don't want to ruin a whole jar of sauce just because you're feeling brave
Stir (it will change the color) and heat through
Use on top of your favorite spaghetti noodle or even better, spaghetti squash!

TO ROAST SPAGHETTI SQUASH:
Preheat oven to 425 
Rinse the outside of your squash before cutting to wash away any lingering dirt or bacteria
Cut the squash in half or quarters and scoop out seeds
Brush with oil, butter or ghee and salt and pepper
Place flesh-side (not skin side) up on a pan and roast until golden, usually about 40 mins, but it really can vary with thickness and size of your squash so watch it to prevent burning.
Scoop out cooked squash with a spoon or fork, separating the strands to look like spaghetti and top with sauce!