By now you know that I love to sneak vegetables into my kids meals. Admit it, you do it too. I love that I am also eating more veggies. It makes me feel like I am somehow fabulously healthy. I also try to reduce the amount of sugar in my recipes. I decided to take on the task of eliminating refined sugar from my pasta sauce and replacing it with natural sugars. But unlike my Cafe Rio Style Chicken, I couldn't use a sweet fruit. This took some research.
When my mom made homemade pasta sauce, it simmered on the stove all day. It was filled with chunks of beef, pork sausage and pepperoni. Soooo delicious. My mom also added vinegar and sugar. It combats the tangy flavor that canned tomatoes sometimes give off. So I had to find something that would replace both the vinegar and the sugar. I also wanted to add zucchini.
So I chopped my onions, and 1/2 of my carrots, and my celery. Then I grated my zucchini, and the rest of my carrots. I opted to cook all of this with the meat, to eliminate the need for extra oil, (normally needed to saute the garlic and onion and veggies).
When this was done and I was ready to add my tomatoes, and tomato sauce, I also added pumpkin! I know! Pumpkin! And with the first taste I was so sad. I thought I had ruined my sauce. But I decided to wait it out. Guess what? An hour later, no pumpkin flavor. Just meaty, full, robust pasta sauce. What a happy discovery.
And my family loved it. And I have not told them they were technically eating a squash, or at least something from the same family as the squash. They can be squeamish about such things.
This makes a lot, as I freeze half. You can halve the recipe, no problem. Just keep the full can of diced tomatoes and skip the tomato paste.
Tomato Pasta Sauce with Pumpkin
2 lbs ground beef (or ground turkey)
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
2 (15 oz) cans tomato sauce
(Normally I would also add 1 small can tomato paste, but I didn't have one. You decide.)
2-3 large carrots, 1chopped, the rest grated
1 large onion - chopped
1 medium zucchini - Peeled, grated and squeezed to remove moisture.
2 stalks celery - chopped
1 can (14.5 oz) pumpkin -- do not accidentally use pumpkin pie filling. Trust me on this.
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
2 Tbl garlic - chopped (probably 1 tsp if you use garlic powder)
2 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp white pepper
salt and pepper to taste
Add the onion, beef, zucchini, celery, carrots, to a large skillet and cook the meat. Drain if needed, and add the tomato sauce, paste if using (along with a can full of water), diced tomatoes, pumkin and spices. Cook over low heat for at least 30 min, but I recommend 2-3 hours. Stir occasionally. You could also cook the meat and throw everything into a slow cooker. This would give you a fast and easy meal for a busy day. I serve mine over blanched cabbage. My family likes it with spaghetti noodles.
