Planty Mom: Mommy Marsala

Welcome to Planty Mom! I'm a mom who likes plants. For dinner. I've finally gotten tired of people saying, "You're a vegan, eh? So, what DO you eat?" and started a blog to post my favorite recipes. For the record, I've got 3 kids, all veggie eaters, and an omnivore husband. Who eats plants for dinner because I'm the cook in this family. But enough about me! You came here for the food! That's why I would be here anyway.

I call this Mommy Marsala. This is definitely one of my many, go-to, oh snap, these kids want to eat, recipes. It's really tasty, and full of delicious, delicious plants. Side note: I'm usually super good about sticking to my list at the grocery store, except when it comes to produce. Sometimes things just end up in my cart because they are pretty. Good thing most plants are cheap. The most expensive thing is probably the Marsala wine. Word to the wise, don't buy Marsala cooking wine, go for the real stuff. It's only about a $1 more than the cooking wine, and the flavor is ah-mazing.

Alright... here we go.

Mommy Marsala

1 box of your favorite pasta (Spaghetti is best, but really anything will work, we used Penne)
2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 package pre-sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup Marsala Wine
1 1/2 cups Veggie Stock (don't get brock, get stock, there is a difference. I usually get the 32 oz box at Kroger for about $3)
1 diced onion
1 tbsp Oragano
1 tbsp Basil
1 tbsp minced garlic (I usually use the jarred kind. Prep is way easy, and the flavor is pretty close to fresh)
4 chopped tomatoes
a bunch of spinach
Salt to taste

Here's a picture of everything, except the mushrooms. They were already in the skillet. Please excuse my teeny tiny kitchen. OH, and this recipe is fantastic for using up produce that is about to go bad. Hence my kind of slimy looking spinach. It was just so pretty, sitting there in the produce section...

Start cooking the pasta. If you need help with this step... maybe this is not the right blog for you. Try this, then come see me.
Heat up the olive oil in a skillet, then toss in the mushrooms and onions. Let them get nice and brown, the mushrooms will release their liquid, and it will be beautiful.

Toss in the garlic and other spices. This will smell very, very good.
In a measuring cup, mix the wine, and the stock. Then dump that into the skillet with everything else. Let all that simmer for about 3 minutes.

Chop up the tomatoes and spinach. Then toss them in. You can add the spinach in bunches, it may not all fit at once. But that's OK, because it will wilt quickly, and leave plenty of room.

Let it reduce for about 8 minutes.

Salt to taste. Don't be afraid of the salt. In the correct dose, it helps develop the flavor and can really bring out the hidden tastes (Wow! Who has 2 thumbs and sounds like a food snob??)
Mix the sauce with the pasta you already cooked, and serve it up!