Last night I decided to remake an old family favorite as a new family favorite without any meat. This is the result: whole wheat pasta with a sauce that burst with flavor!
2 cans diced tomatoes, do not drain
1 yellow onion, diced
1 rounded teaspoon diced garlic
1 vegetable bullion cube
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon smokey paprika
1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke
2 large bay leaves
Heat a cast iron pan as hot as possible. Saute the onions without any liquid in the pan until you see a few black spots on the onions, then turn the heat down to medium and cook for about 3 more minutes. Transfer to a small pot and add the tomatoes and liquid from them. Add the rest of the ingredients, stir, then simmer for half an hour. Check every few minutes, give it a stir, and add small amounts of water if needed. You want to have some sauce to go with the tomatoes and onions. After 30 minutes, taste and add salt if needed. Serve over hot pasta.
My children used to love this dish because it had bacon in it. I was very pleased to hear them tell me that they could not believe there was no bacon in it and it tasted just as good! I tried fixing this without meat a couple of years ago, but did not think it was as good as the original then. I am improving in my use of spices and getting better results than I did in the past. Give this one a try, your carnivore guests should like it.
