Adding roasted vegetables to a store bought marinara sauce boosts the nutritional value, and makes a deliciously sweet sauce. Thanks to Chickapea for partnering with us we use this sauce to top Chickapea pasta -- it has 27 grams of protein per serving, so paired with veggies, this is a complete meal that kids will love!

Veggie Pasta Marinara

If your kiddos are anything like mine then you appreciate recipes that "sneak" vegetables into their diet.  My girls love corn and green beans, but that's about it.  They'll pick through a recipe where they can see the vegetables in the sauce.  We've even gone so far as for them to plant their own herb gardens in hopes that they'll be more likely to try recipes that incorporate the herbs.  That strategy is often hit or miss though so I'm always trying to create recipes that hide the vegetables in the meal.  

Our Veggie Pasta Marinara hides all sorts of vegetables, but more importantly it hides ones like carrots, zucchini and cauliflower, which my girls won't touch never mind eat.  My youngest loves seasoning the vegetables and being part of the process in the kitchen, but if she can see the vegetables then we're in for it.  Do you understand my pain?  I know you do, which is why we're making this super simple to get those veggies in.

Plus, it doesn't get much easier than this recipe.  You know I'm all about easy.  This is four ingredients into a blender and then poured over Chickapea pasta.  Avery also loves this recipe because she gets to use the blender, which I'm sure you've seen on my Facebook Live stream.  She has a tendency to scream along with the sound of the blender's motor, which of course in turn causes the dog to go nuts.  What's cooking without a little bit of chaos though right?

Chaos is definitely part of our daily meal preparation, but it's a chaos that brings laughter and love into the kitchen.  Just check it out in the video below!

I always want my girls to feel like the kitchen is a place where they can explore their love of food and what better way to do it then with the fleeting moments that we often take for granted.  

As many of you know I wasn't always confident in the kitchen.  I avoided it like the plague because I always felt like I'd make a mess in my mom's kitchen.  I always felt grounded though when we came to the table as a family to enjoy a meal.  It was often over a pasta recipe, which I've carried on with my family.  There is nothing quite like a comforting pasta recipe to bring a family together.

Luckily, Chickapea pasta makes it easy to bring a pasta recipe to the table that is comforting, but also nutritious.  Chickapea pasta contains 27 grams of protein per serving and is gluten free since it is made from chickpeas and lentils.  I love knowing that I'm bringing the chaos into my kitchen to place a nutritious meal on the table for us to enjoy as a family.