Butternut Squash and Spinach Pasta Sauce

Yummy!  This was good.  Butternut squash is a nutrition powerhouse, containing some of the highest amounts of Potassium and Vitamin A.  Potassium can aid in cardiovascular health (reducing blood pressure) and vitamin A is a powerful anti-oxidant that can help prevent some forms of cancer.  Butternut squash has a rich, creamy texture with a slightly sweet taste which makes it ideal for sauces on pasta and risotto.  This recipe is one that the whole family will love (my toddler scarfed it down) and what's even better is that you will be providing healthy nutrition to the ones you love.

This sauce is very versatile!  You could put on top of rice to make a risotto-like dish.  You could place on top of pasta and serve immediately, or you could make a baked pasta (as I did).  Options are endless!

Note: I find butternut squash fairly labor intense to de-seed and cut up.  The thick, hard shell can be difficult to separate from the flesh.  I find that it saves me time to purchase the frozen, pre-cut squash found in the organic section of the grocery.  My grocery also sells pre-cut squash in the produce section as well.  I wait for it to go on sale and then freeze it for later use.

Ingredients:

~8 oz rogatoni pasta

1 butternut squash (de-seeded, cut up, boiled, pureed)

2 Tbsp Earth Balance buttery spread

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup mushrooms, diced

1/4 cup onion, diced

1/4 red bell pepper, diced

1 cup dairy free milk (NOT the lite version)

1 cup spinach, chopped

1 roma tomato, diced

1 cup dairy free parmesan cheese

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp ground thyme

1/4 tsp pepper

Directions:

In a large skillet, saute garlic, mushrooms, onions, and bell pepper in the butter over medium heat until just tender.  Stir in remaining ingredients.  Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally until flavors combined.  

Cook pasta according to package directions.  Place pasta in a casserole dish sprayed with cooking spray.  Cover with sauce.  Top with additional Daiya dairy free mozzarella style cheese, if desired.  Place in oven at 350 for 20-30 min.

Recipe adapted from: http://meatlessmealsformeateaters.blogspot.com/2012/01/butternut-squash-and-spinach-pasta.html