Vegetable Medley Pasta Sauces

2017 Update: Due to a problem with Photobucket, see here, there will be a lot of recipes without photos. I will be slowly redoing the recipe pages, as best I can, but many other posts will be impossible to replace. I’m doing this in my own time, while continuing to update the blog with new recipes and posts. If you’d like to donate, any amount appreciated, you can do so here. The site will always be free, the recipes will never be locked behind a paywall, but this is a lot of additional work. I’m not demanding or begging, just putting it there so if you feel like repaying my hard work you have that option. I don’t make any money from the site, all that I do here is to help others, I couldn’t charge for that.

Table King Squash from the garden. With just a little honey for sweetness.

I’m getting ahead of myself with the plural, but all things in time, I’ll eat my way through the two I made today, the below recipe is the full one, and then I’ll try other combinations of vegetables. I might even try roasted or charred vegetables. I’m still learning how to eat vegetables, that might be laugh-worthy, but when you’ve never eaten something it’s daunting to prepare and alien to your taste buds. I don’t subscribe to the idea of hidden vegetables. You know, the practice of sneaking and disguising vegetables into meals. I feel it gives you a feeling that they shouldn’t be there and eventually an excuse to exclude them. I find what works best is to try everything, if you can tolerate it, even just barely, taste wise I mean, not as a food intolerance, then stick with it, you’ll get used to it and will find ways to make it more palatable to your tastes or you’ll eat it for its health benefits. I could leave cauliflower out, I’m not that fond of it, but with all my limits I want to introduce as many vegetables as possible and I’m sticking to that plan. I’m also reducing my sugar intake as I’ve mentioned. It’s going well. When I first started, all of this, that seems to be the best summation, I went and cut my options down to the bone, the most basic, healthy diet devoid of any extraneous foods, that foundation is what helps me now when I need to cut out. I don’t feel I’m owed sugars, or entitled to junk-food. I also prefer treat days, designated days for baking or buying junk, rather than a cheat day, I limit what I bake and buy, a cheat day wouldn’t allow that for me. Limits, not to hold me down, but to make me soar.

I walked away from this post and now I’ve lost my train of thought. I’m drinking a juice box. This is a novelty. There’s no sweeteners or colouring in it, which is surprising. There is sugar, terrible, terribly delicious sugar. I said I was cutting down, not out, now get away from my juice box! It’s mine! You get your own. It seems as if everyone in Ireland has conspired to get sick, there are way too many bugs around. Your forever friend has been hit with a nasty bug. So I went the food-as-healing route and drank a raw carrot and turmeric smoothie, which aside from honey and water is he ingredient list. I don’t know if it helped, but it didn’t hurt. I have also been on he search for suitable pain relievers, head pain occasionally hits, but all I’ve found is a rub on stick that seems to help somewhat. Medication and I don’t mix, at all, pain I can deal with, side effects, too numerous to mention, I can’t. This album is really great, what were we doing again? Can I have another juice box? Is this a regression or a digression?

So, let me tell you the secret of this sauce. It’s, hold onto your minds, they’re about to be blown, it’s actually a soup! Tricked you, it’s actually really dull. This is pretty much just a thick soup, as is the original, but when coating a pasta it works really well, as a way to get vegetables into you it’s very handy too. I’ve found, even with the addition of spice mixes, that just butternut wasn’t exciting my palate, so I thought that a mixture, a medley of vegetables, might be more interesting and more easily varied. I also want to add some carrots to a few of my meals and this and a curry seem to be the ways I enjoy them most. As far as taste goes it’s just the sum of its parts, nothing much more than that.

I also needed a breakfast option. So I took my Peanut Butter Cookies, substituted the sugar with a banana, I’ll add all that to the recipe page. See, this is where I struggle: Are these sugar free? Are they no added sugar cookies? This is why I hesitate when tagging recipes as sugar free etc. I’ll learn some day. These turned out fine, I find that a bit of protein rich nut butter sees me through until I can eat a right meal. So, that’s it for today. At least we have a few new recipes to add to the blog, that’s always fun, right? I have one more thing to try before the week’s out, so keep an eye on the site. No promises, it might be a bust. I’m tired and want a juice box so I’ll leave you. Weep not, for I’m always right there in your heart. Just call me the Jack of Hearts. Or not, whatever suits. Geddit? Suits…never mind. Later.

Ingredients

Orange Medley

400g Butternut Squash, Cubed
200g Sweet Potato, Cubed
200g Carrots, Diced
1 Large Yellow Onion, Chopped
12 Cloves Garlic, Chopped
500ml Water/Chicken Stock
Olive Oil for Frying
Salt and Pepper to Taste

Can be frozen.
Makes 4 Servings.

Method

1. Heat Olive Oil in a pot and add the Butternut Squash, Carrot, Sweet Potato, Onion, Garlic, Salt and Pepper. Cook on a medium heat for 10 minutes or until Onion is soft.

2. Add Stock to pot and bring to a boil, cover, then reduce to a simmer and let cook until everything is soft. Then, if, desired, leave to simmer slowly and let reduce to enhance the flavour.

3. Add the contents of the pot to a blender and blend until smooth. When using add to a pan and heat until warm, cook for a while if sauce needs to reduce and thicken, then toss Pasta in sauce and serve.

Variations

Try to use vegetables with similar roasting times or use separate tins.

Roasted: Use up to 1000g of Vegetables. Add everything, but the Stock to a roasting tin, roast at 200c for 40-60 minutes until vegetables are tender and caramelised to your preference, be careful not to burn the Onions or Garlic. Remove from oven and add to a pot with the Stock boil for a few minutes until everything is soft and tender then blend.

Green and White: Use 400g Broccoli, 200g Cauliflower and 200g Asparagus. Everything else is the same.

The cauliflower imparts a rich, creamy texture while the asparagus and broccoli give it mild, delicious taste.

 

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