Hi Frances,
Pasta loving toddler here too.
Do you have a food processor? I cannot live without mine. I finely mince carrots, spinach and parsley in my machine and add it to ALL of my sauces.
With pesto I use half basil and half kale or greens.
Have you tried risotto/Italian style rice? Much more like pasta than rice and you can use any sauce.
As far as meat goes, you can mince finely in the food processor cooked chicken or turkey pieces and add to your tomato sauce or any type of sauce, it comes out real fine. I also grind cooked chicken or turkey mince real fine too and add to sauce and it seems to go down well. (pardon the pun!
)
More alternatives to pasta that has similar texture etc...is couscous. Very high in fibre and iron as well. I treat it like a pasta and add various sauces. Also bulgar wheat or pearl barley is great for this too. We also serve up polenta with tomato sauce although it is a bit more mushy than pasta.
Have you tried making minestrone soup with all the veg as recipe call for, whizz it up in processor and then add the pasta in the broth and serve like that? I just remembered this one and have not done since winter, so will do this week!
We also love pasta with beans. I use borlotti or canellini beans mashed up with pasta.
I have had a bit of success with rice noodles, like a Thai noodle and serve with his favourite veg or my hidden veg/meat
with soy sauce.
Have to run, but hope this helps.
Aisling x
