Double Veggie Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

As a mother of a sometimes picky 3 year old, I am always looking for ways to sneak in extra veggies into our meals.  You can not even taste the carrots, and having this recipe without the carrots in it before, I feel it only enhances the flavor.  If you have any suggestions or recipes that have "hidden" veggies PLEASE send them my way! 

This is a recipe for our favorite spaghetti sauce.  I have a difficult time finding spaghetti sauce that doesn't contain soybean oil, or any oil for that matter. I came across this recipe for spaghetti sauce at a "recipe club" that I attend regularly.  I have tweaked it to our taste and look forward to sharing it with you! 

Ingredients:

5 large carrots

1/2 pound of ground beef (or 1 pound, depending on how much meat you like in your sauce)

1/2 sweet onion diced

3 cloves garlic

one 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes

one 14 ounce can tomato sauce

one 6 ounce can tomato paste
1/8 cup water

1 Tablespoon of sugar (xylitol or prefferred sweetener)

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon dried parsley

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/8 teaspoon dried oregano

1 bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of pepper

Steam the carrots, while they are cooking brown the ground beef with the onions.  Mix all the remaining ingredients in a crockpot.  Scoop one ladle of the tomato mixture into a blender, add the steamed carrots and blend until smooth.  Return the carrot mixture to the crockpot.  Once the ground beef is completely cooked add to the crock pot.  Cook on low for 6 hours, or on high for one hour, then low till ready to serve.  Before serving remove the bay leaf. 

I usually serve over brown rice pasta.  This also makes a great pizza sauce! 

Adapted from the recipe: stamp-of-approval spaghetti sauce, from tasteofhome.com