Recipe Rehab: Basic pasta sauce gone healthy

Our weekly feature, Recipe Rehab, takes a recipe -- sometimes basic, sometimes decadent and sometimes just plain unhealthy -- and turns it into a scrumptious and healthy dish, pumped up with nutrition. Sometimes all it takes is a few alterations to cook a dish that would make even your nutritionist proud.

Pasta and red sauce. It is easy, generally a crowd pleaser and also a good, low-budget meal. And when you are using a recipe from Molto Mario of Food TV, how can you go wrong, right? But what if you could learn how to make it even healthier and more delicious?

Ingredients (adapted from original recipe):

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 Spanish onion, 1/4-inch dice
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme leaves, or 1 tablespoon dried
• 1/2 medium carrot, finely grated
• 2 (28-ounce) cans peeled whole tomatoes, organic, crushed by hand and juices reserved
• Whole basil leaves, for garnish
• Grated Parmesan, (optional)

Rehab Additions:

• 1-2 c. grated zucchini and/or finely diced broccoli and/or 1-2 c. spinach (you can even use frozen) to pump up the nutrition
• Kelp powder or unrefined sea salt to taste
• Spaghetti, sprouted, whole grain or brown rice, cooked al dente

Directions:
In a 3-quart saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic, and cook until soft and light golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the thyme and carrot (and whatever other veggies you may be adding), and cook 5 minutes more, until the carrot is quite soft. Add the tomatoes and juice and bring to a boil, stirring often. Lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes until as thick as hot cereal. Season with salt and serve. This sauce holds one week in the refrigerator or up to six months in the freezer.

When ready to use, the cooked pasta should be added to a saucepan with the appropriate amount of sauce. Garnish with basil leaves and cheese, if using.

For more protein, serve with free-range chicken sausage of your flavor choice. We love the sun-dried tomato, roasted garlic and sweet Italian types.

Rehab Rundown:
1) Always buy organic produce if availability and your budget allow. If you need to make choices, here's a list of what fruits and vegetables you should always buy organic because they are more likely to be contaminated with pesticides.

2) You are doing yourself a huge favor by buying organic, salt-free canned tomatoes. The amount of salt is usually a lot and not the right kind. Even the brands that use sea salt generally use refined. You are better off adding your own quality, unrefined sea salt. Tomatoes are one of the produce items most likely to retain pesticide residue, and since organic canned tomatoes are now widely available in most markets, just do it.

3) Experiment with unrefined pastas. There are so many pastas out there that aren't refined white starches that will wreak havoc on your blood sugar levels, so why not try one? Brown rice pasta, whole spelt pasta and even Ezekiel sprouted grain pasta are healthy alternatives.

Rehab Reveal:
1) Sprouted pasta digests like a vegetable and adds 7 grams of fiber, 9 grams of protein, calcium and iron.

2) Adding 1 cup zucchini to your sauce adds 1.5 grams of fiber and 11 mg vitamin C.

3) Adding 1 cup of frozen spinach to your sauce adds 6 grams of fiber, 30 percent of your vitamin C intake for the day, calcium and iron and infinite amounts of vitamin A.

4) Using kelp powder instead of plain salt adds trace minerals, like calcium and potassium, and elements, like iodine and iron.

Rehab Roundup:
You will be more successful at "healthing up" your recipes if you have the healthy food on-hand, so here's a list of basics to have to make every pasta dinner a successful rehab. Click each hard-to-find food for online buying information:

• Canned organic tomatoes (available at nearly every supermarket these days)
• Frozen organic spinach (ditto)
• Kelp powder (most easily purchased at a food co-op, health food/vitamin store, online or in the health food section of a large chain grocery store)
• Sprouted pasta (most likely available in the health food section of a large chain grocery store or food co-op store)

If you try this recipe, please let us know how it goes. And if you want to see other common recipes made over in this ongoing weekly column, we're all ears (and measuring cups, and blenders, and food scales ... )!