Squash Medley Spaghetti Sauce

This dish was an unexpected hit. The best part was getting my girls to eat squash and zucchini without complaining! There's another dish I make, called calabacitas, that they complain about the texture of "the yellow and green stuff". I don't think we'll ever have plain ol' meat sauce again. 

Here's the mix pre-tomato sauce. Have you ever tried Cavender's All-Purpose Greek Seasoning?

It's fabulous. 

And the meat is light because it is turkey. I stopped cooking beef a long time ago because I thought it was healthier, but for a different reason than I do now. Cows are fed soybeans. Soy is known to slow metabolism, allowing the cow to get fatter and offer more meat. Eaten regularly, you get a dose of soy yourself. And soy attacks weak thyroid glands. Of course, this is not a problem in organically grass-fed cows. The price of that meat is worth the price, but I'll be buying steaks when I do. I think ground turkey is a good substitute in the meantime.

Ingredients:

1 yellow squash  (chopped)

1 small zucchini (chopped)

1/2 white onion (chopped)

1 cup chopped fresh spinach

1 lb. ground turkey

tomato sauce as desired

1 tbsp unrefined virgin coconut oil

1 tbsp butter

2 tbsp water

Directions:

1. Saute squash, zucchini, and onion in coconut oil and butter over medium heat. Add in water. Cover til soft. You can use just butter or just coconut oil. I'm trying to use coconut oil more, but still haven't developed a taste for the oil all by itself just yet. So I temper it with butter.

2. Add in spinach. Once it has darkened and shriveled, push up around the edges of the pan. 

3. Brown meat in the middle. I don't drain the fat because I think it gives the sauce a good flavor. I try to get the 92% lean meat.

4. Season meat with spices of choice. I love Cavender's Greek Seasoning! Maybe because I grew up with it and it just tastes like home to me. Mix meat and veggies together. Add in spaghetti sauce to taste. I like my sauce more chunky than runny, so I just use one small can.

Side note: I used the rice spaghetti noodles for the first time to avoid gluten in regular pasta. They came out a little stickier than I like. And there were not nearly enough noodles for my liking. But maybe that's a good thing. My daughters, however, declared they loved the noodles and ate every bite on their plate. They were disappointed to learn I didn't have anymore noodles for seconds. Two boxes may be necessary next time!