Delicious Spaghetti Dinner-Economical before or after your Main Holiday Meal-Dr. Rama

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Well, you have a lot of people over for the holidays and it can get quite costly.  What can you do before and/or after your main holiday dinner?

How about spaghetti dinner? ---It is cost effective and very tasty.  And you can stretch to accommodate last minute guests

Here is a great recipe for very natural sauce and noodles. Its easy once you get the proportions right as to how many people and the taste of the sauce.  It serves about 4-6 people, you have to add more ingredients proportionately for more people.

Ingredients:

16 fresh tomatoes:  6  red vine ripe, -4 golden yellow, 6 fresh Romano tomatoes---sliced then gently-- crushed--
1/2-3/4 bunch of fresh basil
1/8 fresh oregano
6  cloves of fresh garlic
2 small/medium purple onions finely chopped--these are the mildest---
1-2 cups of freshly sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup of freshly chopped red, green and orange and yellow bell peppers

One or two medium bottles on hand of each:  plain tomato sauce and paste----not the cans---

2-3 cups of Morning star Farms@ or St. Ives@ vegetarian/vegan burger crumbles--- Mixing them together tastes better --in the frozen and refrigerated section
1 cup of carefully cubed extra extra firm tofu--- you can also get the frozen vegan meatballs and or refrigerated large vegan sausage from the refrigerated section as well.

one bottle of fresh virgin olive oil on hand.

Spices

1/2 to one teaspoon of fresh red cayenne powder-
1 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons of salt---you have to add or subtract all three for your own taste-----garlic powder also to taste if needed


Method:

crush your garlic and finely chop the cloves-- and set aside

In a medium/large sauce pan or flat pan, pour enough olive oil to cover the surface liberally

saute and brown your vegan burger crumbles until a nice aroma is present and they are slightly brown.

In a separate pan do the same for the cubed tofu--until they are also slightly golden brown.  Careful not to crush the tofu pieces--that is why you need extra extra firm tofu.

combine both in a bowl and set aside.

Next, in the larger sauce pan--re coat with olive oil, and gently saute your onions and garlic until they are clear and there is a nice aroma. Gently fold in your mushrooms until they soften, absorb oil, and nicely slightly brown.
add bell peppers and fresh basil and oregano and gently stir over low/medium heat.  With your hands--squeeze the tomato mixture together and add to the pan--gently simmer for about 10 minutes. 

Add your vegan burger crumbles and tofu and carefully stir.

At this point--determine the consistency you want and gently add either or both some tomato paste and sauce--

add salt, pepper, and red pepper to taste. ---and again simmer for about 10-15 minutes.

For spaghetti noodles---try the firmer noodles that actually have a hole that runs down the length of the noodle.  These are best and taste the best as well.   The key to good noodles is to add salt and olive oil to the boiling water,,,,,gently add the noodles and let them slip into the water as they soften.

Serve with your favorite veggies and breads.

thanks
Dr. Rama
Dallas Texas