Spaghetti with Meaty Marinara

Hello friends! It has been a while and I hope you have not fallen out of my loop! I have been entertaining family for 6 days! That is a long time, but when I have not seen my sister and grandma since December, it called for a little downtime with them. I was really happy to have them come and visit. My grandmother was really looking forward seeing the tulips and a good thing she came when she did. Michigan has been having crazy spring weather! We have ben having warm days, torrential rains, and windy cold days, all in the past week and a half. Sounds crazy, right? Yep! The tulips are officially done with and withered.



Last year, we arrived in Holland, Michigan a week after Tulip Time with many tulips wtill smiling up at us, but not so this year. Is it not amazing how it the weather changes each year?? We had a great time performing our Tulip Time shows with the Holland Chorale, meeting people from Texas to Pennsylvania! If you visited my Wordless Saturday post, you will notice I posted some pictures of the parade we attended after a nice morning shower suprised the towns people.



Did I mention that I did not get to cook that much these past 6 days? I cooked for family and with friends we were staying with, but meals were eaten in order to have energy for the days activity. I even lost another 2 pounds! How about that? It was probably because we enjoyed the outdoors a lot!

After getting twos of great weather, we headed back home to East Lansing and dealt with rainy and cold showers. We survived though. I enjoyed entertaining. Do you enjoy entertaining, or is it stressful? I enjoy it if it is family, like my mom or sister, but I am still trying to get a handle on not trying to please people too too much, when friends or extended family visit. I understand it is a work in progress.



Even though we enjoyed some good restaurants in the area, I was able to cook a nice spaghetti dinner for my family. It had been a while since I made my own spaghetti sauce so I decided to make it for my family. I used ground beef for my folks, (requested by husband) and I made mine using Boca soy crumbles.

It had actually been my second time making it with the crumbles but my first using my own sauce.It was a great success! My husband did taste it after I finished the vegan version, and he thought it was pleasant. He has told me that when it came to Spaghetti and Meatballs or meat sauce that he really preferred me using real meat so I respected his request. He was a happy man.

Spaghetti with Meaty Marinara


serves 2



2 cups cooked spaghetti, al dente
1 cup Boca soy crumbles
1 Tbsp olive oil
2/3 cup onions, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 tsp Italian seasonings
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp agave nectar
6 ounce can tomato sauce
12 ounce can crushed tomatoes


In a medium saucepan, heat olive oil on medium heat. Add onions and garlic and cook for 5 minutes. Add soy crumbles and cook for another 10 minutes.


Add tomato sauce and crushed tomatoes and the rest of the seasonings. Cook for 20 minutes on medium low heat for flavors to meld.


Cook spaghetti according to directions on package and cook until al dente. Drain pasta.


Combine sauce and spaghetti and enjoy. Sprinkle with some PARMA cheese and have a big salad!