Loaded Vegetable Chicken Ragu - A hearty, ground chicken based pasta sauce loaded with finely chopped vegetables.

We've been talking a lot lately (mostly on Facebook) about giving our family some foods they love but lightening those recipes up a bit. This ragu (fancy word for tomato sauce with a meat base) has lean ground chicken to start and then I threw in mushrooms, carrots, onions and zucchini. All good, healthy things that you want your family to eat, right?

If you have picky eaters throw your veggies in a food processor to really get them small. Make them small enough that your kids won't notice they're eating something healthful. Some husbands need to be tricked too, I know. My husband and oldest daughter don't like mushrooms. But I always chop them small enough and guess what? They eat them all the time. I think he realizes it, but she definitely doesn't. A little trickery is okay.

I tend to like my sauce with a little zip, so I added ½ teaspoon for crushed red pepper. It was a tad bit spicy for our daughter, but just spicy enough for me. If you want to cut that down, I'd suggest ⅛-1/4 tsp. Heck, if you don't want any heat to it, just leave it out all together. I know the little ones don't usually care for a kick.

All that is involved is cooking your ground chicken then adding all your veggies to the same pan. Let those cook for about 5 minutes then add your seasonings, tomatoes and vegetable stock (or chicken) and let it simmer for 10 minutes. Easy AND Quick.

I served my ragu with whole grain rotini. I suggest a tube pasta or a shape like rotini because it catches all the veggies and chicken. If you use a long pasta cut (spaghetti, angel hair) the sauce won't stick to it as well as it will with a short tube pasta. I, of course, chose whole grain because I'm all about the small changes this year and honestly, the kids don't know the difference when it's covered in sauce. So why not, right.

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