Spaghetti Pie

This is the latest try from Deceptively Delicious, the cookbook wherein recipes are contained with which you can make your children eat their vegetables, supposedly without them knowing it. This one had a very appetizing picture to go with it, and historically my children have enjoyed recipes similar to this. Well, not Nathan. But the other two.

Spaghetti Pie
Nonstick cooking spray
3 oz whole wheat spaghetti or angel hair pasta (or 1 cup leftover cooked pasta)
1/2 pound lean ground turkey or sirloin
1/2 cup broccoli puree (second time in my life I have purchased broccoli)
1 large egg white
2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cups bottled tomato sauce
1 cup lowfat (1 %) cottage cheese
1/4 cup carrot puree
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 cup shredded mozzarella

Preheat oven to 350. Coat a 9-inch pie plate with cooking spray. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the pasta, and cook until al dente; drain. (Skip this step if you have leftover pasta.) (Oh, really? Thanks for that tip, Mrs Seinfeld. Gosh)

In a small bowl, mix the ground turkey or sirloin with the broccoli puree, egg white, parmesan, and garlic. Form the mixture into 1/2-inch balls.

In a large bowl, stir the cooked pasta, tomato sauce, cottage cheese, carrot puree, and salt and pepper. Spoon the mixture into the pie plate and smooth the top. Scatter meatballs on top and sprinkle with mozzarella. Bake, uncovered, until the center is firm and the cheese is bubbly, 25 to 30 minutes.

How the heck are you supposed to know how much 3 oz of pasta is? The box I have has 16 oz in it, and it is really hard to figure out what 16 divided by 3 is, in pasta. But I just eye-balled it, and it came out pretty good. In the meatballs, it was very clear that there was broccoli in them. Especially to Sam and Emma, who had learned the secret of the green potatoes. But even though Sam knew, he ate them and said they were good. Emma started crying when she smelled me cooking the broccoli. Nathan really liked this, he even liked the spaghetti, which I was shocked at. Growing up, I guess. This was definitely something I'll keep...Emma liked the spaghetti, even if she wasn't crazy about the meatballs. You honestly could not tell there was broccoli in there. If you couldn't see it, you wouldn't even know. And the carrots were totally hidden. This did take longer than I expected to make...like 20 minutes to cook & puree the veggies, and then another 35ish minutes to do all the rest. So allow plenty of time if you're going to try it!