Spaggetti w/ Italian Salad and Garlic Bread & Parsley Pesto

As a vegan you do not - I repeat do not - need to give up Italian food. I was lucky enough to have a mother who grew up in an Italian Restaurant. My Grandpa Mattie was the kind of Italian that if you asked for ketchup he'd kick you out. So growing up we had wonderful family dinners (and a lot of pasta) which neighborhood kids would beg us to invite them over to, which we did since there was always extra food. So over the years I've been converting recipes to remove the meat or cheese and adding my own twist to things. At home we try to have pasta of some sort once a week. Because of a wheat allergy I serve brown rice pasta at home. And if you have kids who wont eat their veggies but will eat tomato sauce you can shred carrots & butternut squash into the sauce and let it cook down into it. For a simple marinara sauce take olive oil in a iron pan, add 1/2 a diced saute 1 min. then add 3 cloves garlic minced - saute very quick adding 1 tsp sea salt, some fresh ground black pepper, 1 T basil & 1/2 T oregano. stir and add canned tomatoes ( I like fire roasted)  stir and simmer for 30 - 40 min.