Spaghetti Sauce

A major challenge with this pregnancy is that I really can't eat or cook with garlic and onion at all.  The gorge rises in my throat even as I think about it as I type.  Anyway, even though my nausea is a lot better now (relatively speaking), I still cannot go near either one.  I came up with a pretty good spaghetti sauce which has opened up the world of spaghetti, lasagne, pizza, and ziti.  I doubt many of you will have cause to use it (I hope not, because having to avoid garlic and onion really limits your cooking), but you never know . . .

Garlic and Onion-free Spaghetti Sauce

Saute red pepper and mushrooms in olive oil (both should be chopped very small).  You can also add zucchini if you want to, just make sure it's chopped very fine.  (I normally start with the garlic and onion before this step if you want to use the really great recipe.)
Add several cans of diced tomatoes and tomato sauce* (according to taste, and according to how much you're trying to make and how big of a veggie pile you started with--I do a couple of each).
Add a bay leaf and basil and oregano, etc.
You can add a little red wine.
Simmer on low heat. 
Simple but tasty.  VERY helpful for those who have to avoid the aforementioned tasty ingredients.

*I actually use frozen or heat sealed versions from my fall stock-piling, but I'm working from the assumption that most aren't buying into all that labor-intensive winter prep.

Last Night For Dinner

Last night for dinner we had a garlic and onion-free version of an old favorite.  Vegetarian Paella (well, except I threw in a few pieces of leftover frozen turkey meat):

I adapted the recipe (and it's slightly different each time) from one I found on the Whole Foods web site.  The fun part of real seafood paella is the shellfish you get to open while eating.  So I leave chunky vegetable "surprises" in the rice for this one, too.  In the summer you can put half ears of corn in the cob in there.  My winter version was as follows:

[onion]
[garlic]
[pepper]
If I could stand how they taste and smell right now (I've had to avoid them all of my pregnancies) I'd have first sauted these first two ingredients in olive oil.  And if I wasn't later adding chunks of roasted red pepper I'd have added that, too.  Since I wasn't doing any of these, I started by sauteing uncooked rice with some strands of saffron.  If you don't have saffron, you can substitute by using a little turmeric.  Saute rice for a few minutes on low heat.  Add a can of tomatoes (diced or whole) with juice (or frozen diced tomatoes if you stocked your freezer with seasonal veggies in the fall) and some broth (chicken or vegetarian).  Broth should just cover the rice.  I didn't measure either, just be sure to add more water or broth later if rice seems to be drying out while cooking.  At this point you have a lot of freedom in what to add.  Last night I added soy beans (the last time I used lima beans), green olives, roasted red peppers, shredded zucchini/summer squash (I had that frozen from fall in one cup measurements--I stuck in one cup), and some frozen hunks of leftover Christmas turkey meat (you could easily leave that out, unless you're married to a "every dish must have some meat" guy like I am).  Then I left it on the stove on low heat until the rice was softened but not soggy.  I stirred in frozen peas and orange slices as my last step and let it sit until they warmed.  When I put the paella on our plates (or you can serve all of it on a large shallow bowl and be more authentic) I added some slices of sweet potato (I had baked those in my crockpot during the day) and some slices of avocado.  It serves beautifully.  We had sauted broccoli rabe on the side, which was a great compliment.