Vegetarian Spaghetti - Easy Pasta Lunches

My naturopath and I agreed I probably don’t digest animal protein very well, and at least for now, I would benefit from eating more of a vegetarian diet, and decreasing my consumption of meat.

Most days I am home alone at lunch. I often have a lunch of pasta and tomato sauce with vegetables. I have several variations of vegetarian and vegan spaghetti that I enjoy. All are simple, and I decided to share them.

Early in the week, I make a basic sauce.  Combine a large can of crushed tomatoes or use diced tomatoes and break them up a bit more with an immersion blender.  Add three to six cloves of minced garlic, ½ teaspoon sea salt, and two tablespoons of olive oil.  Add fresh herbs if you have them.  Simmer the sauce 30 to 60 minutes. 

Sometimes I add a tablespoon of capers.  Other times I add a little commercial sauce, like something a little spicy hot. 

Each lunch I make a single portion serving.  I use ¾ to 1 cup of tomato sauce and add my vegetables. 

This may be my favorite vegetarian spaghetti lunch. If you like your onions more caramelized than crispy, start with them. Use a non-stick pan with a little olive oil. If you don’t want to use oil, use a little vegetable broth. When the onion begin to soften, add the mushrooms. I like to have the pan really hot, so that the mushrooms don’t simmer in the water that cooks off. I prefer them more sautéed in the oil. Add the spinach last, and sauté just to wilt. Add tomato sauce and continue to heat until warm.  This is good with kalamata olives too. 

Pour about ¾ to 1 cup tomato sauce in a small pan or skillet. Add vegetables. I use canned sliced carrots, peas and artichoke hearts, draining the portions as I use them. Add one to two tablespoons of peas. Cut carrot slices into matchstick pieces and add one to two tablespoons to the sauce. Squeeze the water from two to three artichoke hearts. I prefer the ones packed in water, not the marinated ones. Slice artichokes into five to six pieces and add to sauce. Heat over medium until thoroughly heated.

Slice fresh zucchini into ¼ inch thick half rounds.  Sauté in a small skillet in vegetable broth or olive oil until tender crisp.  Fresh zucchini works best.  The texture of frozen zucchini is just weird.  Canned is a little mushy.  Pour ¾ to 1 cup of tomato sauce over zucchini.  Heat until warm. 

I like to use spelt pasta from Sun Harvest. I think most of us would benefit from a little “wheat vacation” from time to time. I’ve never successfully cooked rice pasta that did not get mushy. Despite what the label says, quinoa pasta takes a really long time to cook. The water gets really cloudy, and the pasta ends up in pieces two to four inches long, and still firm and chewy. Spelt pasta cooks up the best. It is a lot like whole wheat pasta in taste and texture.

I sometimes cook more than one serving of pasta, but do not microwave it to reheat. We stopped using the microwave at our house about a year and a half ago. Microwaving alters the structure of foods and beverages, and may cause harmful mutations. At the least, most anti-microwave crusaders agree that microwaving depletes the nutrients in foods.

I just put the pasta on top of the warm sauce in the skillet and stir it in. It only takes three to five minutes to heat.

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