Friday, May 24, 2013

Yet another spaghetti sauce recipe (slow cooker)

Using what we had...the Apprentice said she liked this one, except for the chunks of pepper.

Mama Squirrel's Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce

1 lb. ground beef or other ground meat
2 little cans pizza sauce
1 little can tomato paste
1 cupful (more or less) beef broth
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 11-oz. package Europe's Best Roasted Gourmet Grilled Red & Yellow Pepper Parrilla (frozen grilled peppers), thawed in the fridge
Hot pasta for serving

Brown and drain the ground beef.  In a slow cooker (or a pot on the stove or a casserole in the oven if you prefer), combine the browned meat, pizza sauce, tomato paste, beef broth, and garlic powder.  The standard instructions would probably be to cook it on High for four hours, but if the meat is browned and hot, really you are just heating the rest of the ingredients through too, so you can probably get away with less time or with cooking it on Low.  If you're going to be home, you might try starting it on High and then turning it down to Low after awhile.  If you're cooking it on the stove or in the oven, just cook it all together till it's sauce.

Just before serving, I cut the grilled peppers up into smaller pieces and stirred them into the sauce.  They were still a bit frozen, but the hot sauce cooked them quickly.  They added some bulk and a bit of colour to the sauce.  You could use other vegetables instead, maybe mushrooms.

Serve on pasta, with cheese or whatever else you like.

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