MomMom’s Meat Sauce with Carrot Spaghetti

Shorebird’s MomMom used to make this recipe and it’s one of our favorites. This combines some of our favorite things — fresh produce and stuff you can get cheap from Giant!

This is the base. One green pepper, two stalks of celery and one green pepper. Chop them up small.

Should have probably chopped the green peppers a little smaller than this, but it’s okay. Into the pot.

Add a tablespoon of oil and cook over medium heat as they soften up. Then add in the ground beef and brown it.

This was pretty lean ground beef so there was no need to drain it. But if it’s fatty you’d want to get most of that fat out of there.

Now bring out the Giant. This recipe needs three 15-ounce cans (because you have to make enough to freeze leftovers). We got a few different types and consistencies of tomato just to mix it up. The diced tomatoes have zesty chiles and the stewed tomatoes have garlic and celery. I smashed up the stewed tomatoes once I added them, because they’re pretty big.

Let it simmer for about 40-50 minutes. Stir it every now and then while you do the carrots. We did 6 pretty big carrots for noodles.

We’re slow at this, but one of our many Shorebird & Goat fans says that a spiralizer  makes this process a lot easier. Heat up a skillet on medium-high heat and add a tablespoon or two of oil.

Once the 40-50 minutes are up, add the mushroom

s to the meat sauce. Two 15-ounce cans of stems and pieces will do the trick. And then saute the carrots until they just start to brown.

Serve the meat sauce over the carrots. The carrots have a sweetness to them that complements the meat sauce incredibly well.

Because this is a favorite recipe we always make a lot and freeze leftovers. Then, on nights when we need a quick and easy dinner we take the sauce out of the freezer, heat it back up in a skillet (a little bit of water to start out in the skillet helps this go faster), boil some noodles, and have an amazing meal that’s ready in about 20 minutes.

Ingredients

• 1 to 1.5 pounds lean ground beef
• 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
• One small green pepper
• One small onion
• A couple stalks of celery
• 6 carrots
• Three 15-ounce cans of tomato sauce. One with garlic and one with celery and onion would be good.
• Two 15-ounce cans of mushrooms (preferably stems and pieces)
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 tablespoon parsley flakes
• 1 heaping tablespoon of Italian seasoning
• 2 shakes of cayenne
• 1 bayleaf
• Salt and sugar to taste

Directions

1. Saute chopped green pepper, celery and onions in 1 tablespoons of oil, about five minutes on medium heat until starting to soften
2. Add ground beef and brown, drain any excess fat
3. Stir in all three cans of tomato sauce, simmer for 40-50 minutes, stirring every now and then as you peel the carrots
4. Peel the six carrots into noodles
5. After the 40-50 minutes is up, add mushrooms and spices to the sauce. If it tastes too acidic add some more sugar and italian seasoning.  A little bit of cloves goes a long way and you should be able to taste a slight cloviness here. That’s maybe the best part.
6. Heat a skillet with 1-2 tablespoons of oil over medium high heat
7. Saute the carrots until they just start to brown. By the time the carrots are done the meat sauce should be good to go.
8. Serve meat sauce over the carrots and enjoy!

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