The Vegan Kids Kitchen: Creamy Tomato Sauce with Brown Rice Pasta!!

This is one of my favorite creations, it is simple and yummy and with a couple of sneaky additions on my part, I have my kids eating all their veggies without even knowing it!!! For this recipe it is a good idea to have a powerful blender, like a Blendtec or vita mix, because the creaminess comes from the cashews, so in order to have a smooth texture, you will need to blend until smooth. Now if you don't have, you could try soaking the cashews in water overnight and then drain and try to blend into the sauce using a normal strength blender, so that is always an option. So as I said before the creaminess is coming from the cashews, it is amazing what these little nuts can do to transform a dish. They are so versatile and the flavor really doesn't make it too overpowering, I can't even taste them in the sauce to be honest. I just love the idea of having a creamy pasta with no heavy cream, I mean we all know that stuff is not only horrible for our body, but forget about your waist line! To save me time in the kitchen I usually do a store bought pasta sauce, but if you home make yours, my cheers to you:) Just make sure to read the labels on store bought because a lot of times they will try to sneak in some cheese or other cow's milk product into the sauce.
This brings me to an important note, if you don't read labels START! If you want to know what you are putting into your bodies as well as your childrens', become educated. There is so much research and news in the world that is showing us how much of a link there is from what you eat to your health!!! I am not a doctor, but I do try to stay up to date, there is even findings that link genetically modified foods to causing infertility!!! This is craziness to me, it would be the end of our world, not to mention the heartbreak it would cause my kids later in life, so just the question and doubt alone that this brings up can make me spend that extra money on organic and local food. I really think you have to look at it like this, do you want to spend more money on your food to keep you healthy or would you rather spend it on your medical costs that will come because you didn't take care of yourself? My husband and I have decided that although are grocery bills are high, it is worth it to take care of us now and prevent, rather than skimp on quality. Sorry, this is just my little rant because it really upsets me when people don't care, I mean this is the foundation you are laying for your kids, think how much the whole food industry has changed in just 20 years, we need to be working on going back to where it started. Local and Organic, not all this GMO(genetically modified) food!!! I am done, thanks for listening:)
Back to the sauce... It is just as simple as throwing some carrots, kale, pasta sauce, and cashews and blending it up. If you want an adult version of this, you could just saute the veggies and leave it chunky. Also depending, I will sometimes throw a veggie sausage or "meat"balls in to give it another element. Have fun with this and I promise you will not be disappointed on how amazing this tastes, it is almost unbelievable its possible without all the fat. Tip: You want to use raw cashews because the dry roasted almost always have a large amount of sodium added to and it just tastes better too!! We serve over our favorite brown rice pasta from Tjoe's with a salad and some crusty french garlic bred, mmm delicious!!!

Creamy Tomato Sauce
1 Jar Marinara Sauce
1 handful of kale, about a cup
1-2 medium carrots
1/4-1/2 cup Raw Cashews (depending on your desired creaminess)
2 TBSP. Nutritional Yeast (optional but works like a Parmesan)
Bragg's Amino Acids to Taste

Blend all ingredients together until smooth, if sauce is too thick add a little water, heat on the stove top until hot and serve immediately!