Fall Veggie Spaghetti

We love vegetables in our spaghetti instead of meat. I include tomatoes (canned these days as the deer eat anything that I plant but for herbs), a can of no salt kidney or other beans labeled no salt, sliced mushrooms, thin sliced zucchini, garlic, herbs such as fresh lemon thyme and basil, cinnamon, tumeric, and today I added a few tablespoons of a butternut squash that was not as naturally sweet as usual. I included half of a jar of a prepared sauce from the grocery store and the small bit of baked butternut squash gave the sauce some body and a very smooth texture.

I will always add some baked winter squash to future sauces as it thickened the sauce and added a hint of sweetness. Sometimes, I add a bit of honey to the spaghetti sauce.

Quick Hummus Dip without Salt or Tahini

Cook a can of garbanzo beans (chickpeas) including the liquid. I like to cook most things that come in cans, but not for too long as I do not want the beans to get too mushy and absorb too much cooking liquid. Make sure the beans are salt-free. The best place I have found to buy the salt-free beans at a reasonable cost from 89-99 cents is Whole Foods.

Let the beans cool to lukewarm and drain into processor reserving liquid beans were cooked in, just in case. Add 2 cloves (cloves, not the entire head of garlic, only 2 cloves) of peeled garlic to the blender. Do not cut up the garlic as in my Ninja they will not mix if cut up, but I need to place them in whole. Add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and blend. Check consistency. Since we eat it on sandwiches I do not add more liquid, but if making for a party dip, add another tablespoon of the bean water in the pan.



Again, this is a salt-free recipe, make doubly sure the can says no salt. The lemon in the recipe takes care of the salt in other recipes.

Garbanzo beans are a good source of magnesium!