Presto Pasta

My little man is being weird about his veggies again. Weird in the way that makes me have to plan new meals and try new recipes and actually COOK something I haven't cooked for him before. Holy moly cow (as Jude loves to say these days)! Holier molier cow, I'm actually in love with it. It isn't the olden days of sifting through Food and Wine magazine looking for drool worthy photos or perusing the aisles of Whole Foods sniffing miso pastes and fennel powder. It's more like, "Shit. I have mushrooms that will go bad in 2 days, not enough spinach for a salad, and 20 minutes to make a meal of it. FML." Those moments always bring me back to pasta. It's the easiest and fastest way to stuff veggies into a kid without fail and it's done in 20 minutes. Jude powered through two bowls of this with a side of turkey meatballs dunked in yogurt (because why wouldn't you dunk a meatball in yogurt?) and begged for more. Sadly there wasn't any more to give him, because E and I had powered through the rest already. It's that good.

If your toddler (or anyone) is averse to chunks of mushroom or spinach leaves, just puree the whole batch of sauce until it's smooth and no one will know it has veggies in it. Wanna double up the veggie punch? Serve it with the Piccolini pasta Barilla makes. We love that stuff!

Fusilli with Spinach and Mushroom Cream Sauce 

Ingredients:
16 oz. sliced button mushrooms
2 c. baby spinach
1 shallot, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbls. butter
4 sage leaves, chopped or 2 tsp. dried sage
1 c. cream
salt and pepper to taste
2-3 cups cooked fusilli or other short pasta

Preparation:
Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Add shallots and cook until softened, about 3-4 minutes. Add garlic and mushrooms and cook 5 minutes until garlic is fragrant and mushrooms are beginning to brown, stirring often. Add spinach and toss until wilted. Add cream and sage and bring to a simmer. Continue stirring and simmering until cream thickens and mushrooms are tender, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Using a large spoon, transfer half of the mixture to a blender and pulse until smooth. Return to the pan and stir into remaining mixture. Add cooked pasta to the pan and toss to coat. Serve immediately.