This is not my mother's spaghetti.

When my mother would make spaghetti it meant ground beef and canned tomatoes simmering for hours with a bay leaf.  And it goes without saying that it was served on top of plain old white flour noodles.  I must say it was never my favorite meal.  But now I'm in charge and it's a different story.

Here we have whole wheat angle hair pasta (with Jerusalem artichoke flour, which is high in potassium, iron, fiber, niacin, thiamine, phosphorus and copper or so says wikipedia).  On top I start with a lovely sauce from Muir Glen (tomato basil).  To that I have added yellow and red onion (both, only because I had half of each in the fridge), red bell pepper, kale, and zucchini; all from my local farmer's market.

I chop up all of my vegetables and lightly saute them in some extra virgin olive oil, then add the sauce and heat until warm.  I try to cook the veggies for as short a time as possible to keep those valuable nutrients intact. 

Here's a little tip: after you dump out the sauce there is always a good amount clinging to the jar.  Pour in some balsamic vinegar, juice, or wine, put the lid back on and give it a good shake.  Dump the resulting mixture in with rest of the sauce.  Voila.  You get your moneys worth out of that jar of sauce.  And less to clean out of the jar before putting it in the recycling.

I always keep pasta and a jar of sauce on hand and there is always some vegetable or other around that I can throw in to make a delicious and nutritious dinner.

I can eat pasta without feeling guilty if it is whole wheat and I have more veggies than noodles.