My Fresh Deluxe Vegetable Spaghetti Recipe

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(Edited)

I think most of us enjoy an opportunity to have family over for a hearty fulfilling dinner at a reasonable cost. One of my favorite times to serve up their favorite spaghetti dish I make is in the fall of the year when vegetable prices are down during the fall harvest. What I didn't have left from my grandsons garden or already in the fridge it was relatively cheap to pick up the additional items.

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You can use ground beef but in this instance I used ground turkey. I usually stock up on them when one of our local retailers have the one pound tubes on sale during a ten for ten sale. Some people think ground turkey is bland but it's in the way you cook and dress it up that gives it the taste you prefer. My kids thought the thought of ground turkey sounded gross but once prepared the right way they loved it. I've found you not only save losing meat from the tube by squeezing it out raw but letting it thaw during a low simmer while using olive oil (turkey has low fat content) to keep it from sticking/burning works rather well. I cut the plastic tubing off, oil the pan then put the frozen product in the pan to thaw. Once thawed I lightly mash it down in the pan then add whatever favoring(s) that work for the dish I am preparing on the top. Once it is almost half cooked through I then flip it and let the other side cook almost half through. Once you get to that point you can start chopping and mixing it all together to get nice solid favored chunked turkey instead of a more minced/mushy looking turkey. If you are aiming to use it as a meat in sauce for a meat sauce then the minced/mushy version works wonders for that.

With my sale priced turkey, spaghetti sauce I bought at a stock up sale for forty nine cents each, a box of eighty nine cent spaghetti, a reduced priced loaf of french bread and left over bruschetta bread from making my grand kids my own homemade version of bagel bites I went to work preparing the meal.

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This version will adequately feed seven people or in my instance five with leftovers, so you may want to adjust according to the crowd size you are feeding.

What you will need:

2 pounds of ground turkey or beef
2 jars of spaghetti sauce
1 box of spaghetti
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
3 or 4 garlic gloves minced
salt
pepper
mushrooms
1 green pepper
1 zucchini
carrots
sweet onion
cherry tomatoes
olive oil

For garlic bread:

1 loaf of french bread
1 to 1 1/2 sticks of butter (unsalted works best)
6 to 7 garlic cloves finely minced

For Brushetta:

Brushetta bread
Italian dressing
diced up fresh tomato

salad:

Croutons
Salad dressing
Whatever you would like to throw in some lettuce during your preparation of the meal.

Start your process cooking your meat per the instructions above. While waiting for your meat prepare your vegetables by washing, rinsing, chopping to your desired size. Using some olive oil start to saute all your vegetables and one clove of garlic except do not add cherry tomatoes yet. (you can use whatever vegetables you like, these are just the ones I normally use) Then proceed while waiting to peel and mince your garlic. When the meat is ready to cook sprinkle three to four cloves of minced garlic over the top, sprinkle your Italian seasonings over the meat, salt and pepper. Let cook almost half way through then flip and let cook almost half way through on the other side. Once your turkey/beef is almost cook through you can chop it up to your desired size. Once your meat is cooked thoroughly add the two jars of spaghetti sauce and let simmer. (unless you are using beef you may want to drain the meat of the grease content before adding spaghetti sauce)

As your vegetables saute and your meat is simmering start to heat your oven to three hundred twenty five degrees. Melt your butter in a pan and add six to seven finely chopped garlic cloves, let simmer on very low heat. Cut your brushetta and place on a cookie sheet in the oven until it's slightly brown around the edges. Cut your french bread down the middle, open and place on a cookie sheet, once you remove your brushetta from the oven place your french bread in there open faced until it also is browned around the edges.

Cook your spaghetti, since the sauce will sit atop of your spaghetti you will want to cook it a bit past al dente, once you've cooked to your desired consistency drain then replace back in the pan, putting the pan back on the warm burner start to stir your pasta gently until it's lost it's shine or there is a sharp reduction of steam coming off. This process dries off your spaghetti and lets the sauce adhere to it much better.

Once your garlic bread it browned remove it from oven then apply your butter along with the garlic onto your garlic bread, slice into portions.

Take your brushchetta and spread the Italian seasoning on top then place your chopped up tomatoes on top.

With the cherry tomatoes you can either add them a couple of minutes before serving to the saute to warm them up or you can place them on top of your dish cold after assembly, which is what I prefer myself.

Once you are done place some spaghetti on a plate, top with your sauce, add your vegetables on top and you are ready to serve.

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3 comments
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That's looking real good 😋😋😋

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It is delicious, adds much more texture to the spaghetti and you can actually taste the vegetables unlike any claimed "chunky" version of sauce with vegetables you see on grocery shelves.

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