I come from an Italian family with a long history of home cooks and bakers. So raising our children gluten-free and vegan can feel a bit strange. Trying to keep some family traditions alive, I have adopted some of the age-old recipes.
What kid doesn’t love PASTA!
My father, grandpa Paul, is famous for his fantastic pasta and pizzas, and all three kids get excited when they hear grandpa is making dinner!
So here is how I converted that memorable meal to fit our family’s dietary needs.
Ingredients:
⅓ cup olive oil
1 ½ cup of sweet onions diced
Salt and pepper to taste
4 large garlic cloves minced
2 large green peppers diced
1 pound chopped white mushrooms
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
3 bay leaf
1 tsp dried or fresh oregano
1 tbs Italian seasoning
2 large handfuls fresh basil chopped
1 cup red wine
2 large cans of crushed tomatoes (you can use diced as well, but it will be chunky)
1 package vegan sausage (optional)
This is what Grandpa puts in for all you meat eaters, 1 pound ground beef, 1 pound Italian sausage.
Method:
1.Sauté onions in oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat until translucent. Stirring often.
2. Add garlic, salt, and mushrooms and continue to sauté about 3 more minutes.
3. Add peppers, onion powder, garlic powder, bay leaf, oregano, and basil. Give it a good stir.
Now you have two options here: You can either take the veggies out and saute vegan meat or regular meats, or you can make a marinara with just veggies. Often I do both because my boys still like to have regular meat, but my daughter loves things vegan like me.
Simply brown meat and cook like you usually would in or out of the casing. Then once it is cooked through, add back all the veggies to the pan.
4. Pour in the wine, continue to stir, turn the heat down to a gentle simmer and cover 3 mins
5. Add cans of tomatoes, stir, and place lid on. Cook for at least an hour. The longer it cooks, the richer the taste. I have left it all day!
6. Stir occasionally making sure it is only a simmer, and it is not sticking to the bottom. You can add a splash of water here or there to thin it if it becomes too thick. Also, more salt and pepper to taste.
7. When you serve it, I like to drain the pasta and put it directly into the sauce. That way, all the pasta is covered. But you can also simply let the kids add as much sauce as they want.
And that is it! I hope you love this as much as we do, and I can’t wait to hear what you think of our family’s favorite pasta dish.
