Animal pasta bake with creamy roasted veg sauce (Safari pasta by Mogli)

Encourage healthy eating and active learning at the same time 

My boy loves animals. I think now at 21mo, he knows at least 50 animals' name if not more. I love this organic animal pasta by Mogli (product of Germany). It only needs about 10 minutes of boiling and the pasta is soft. The thing about my son, he wants to know what he's eating. For every bite he takes, he will look at it, and tell out it's chicken or fish, or egg, in this case, it's animal's name, ie lion, crocodile, monkey, bear bear, elephant etc. I found it difficult to identify the animals when it isn't cooked. But interestingly, they are more easily distinguished once cooked. 

This recipe was made for his Sunday's late lunch. I prepared the sauce in the morning and baked it around noon time while he was having nap with his dad. When it was done, I just left it out on his little dining table so my hubby could let him eat it when he woke. Oh.. I went out with my mom to the hospital to visit a close family friend who got hospitalized. When I got back, I found out that he almost finished (okay.. he ate about 80% of the dish) which was great (that means he loved it) and it was quite a decently big portion for his little tummy. 

Here's the recipe 

First, prepare these vege to be roasted 

• 3 tomato, skinned and cubed 
• 80g pumpkin, cubed 
• half a cob of sweetcorn, kerneled 
• half a zucchini, cubed
• 3 cloves garlic, finely minced 
• half an onion, finely minced 

Thoroughly combine these prepared vege in a baking tray with the following marinade and cover with alum foil

• 2-3 tbsp basil-infused olive oil 
• pinch of salt and pepper 
• 1/2 tsp pizza and pasta seasoning herbs (optional) 

Preheat the oven to 180deg C. Roast the above veg for about 45min to an hour or until all the veg are soft. 

Leave to cool. 

Once cooled, puree the veg to turn into sauce. Add water or milk if the veg is too thick to be pureed. 

Cook the safari pasta (about 2-3 tbsp) in boiling water. 

Once cooked, combine the pasta with the roasted vege sauce with a tablespoon of cream cheese and serve. 

*I baked it a little in order to keep the dish warm.