Toddler-Friendly "Loaded Veggie Bolognese"

Pasta - the ultimate comfort food! And as it happens, one of my toddler's (and husband's) favorite meals.  Pasta is also one of those things that most pantries have a ready supply of and it's a quick meal when there's no other option.  But what about the sauce?? Sure I could throw some cheese on the noodles and call it a day, but wouldn't it be nice to have a freezer stash of made-from-scratch, loaded with veggies, brimming with meaty goodness sauce on hand?  Enter "Loaded Veggie Bolognese" as your healthy, freezable alternative to store bought jar sauces.  Make a large batch of this sauce to serve for a few dinners and then freeze the rest for those emergency days when you're running late to make dinner, don't want to eat out, or are exhausted from wrestling your toddler out of the swimming pool and into dry clothes.  The toddler who now happens to be screaming at you for dinner.  Seriously, why do they always act like they've been starved for days when you're 10 seconds late serving dinner??

Anyway, this sauce can be made using a slow cooker or regular large Dutch oven or any other cauldron-size pot you may have on hand.  Your picky veggie eaters will not be able to see/taste/feel/pick out any of the hidden vegetables in this dish.  If they do, color me impressed.

Ingredients:

2 lbs lean ground beef or turkey - I used 96% lean beef for this recipe
2 28 oz cans of crushed tomatoes
6 cloves of garlic
One large white onion
2 medium size zucchini - peeled
3 large carrots - peeled
2 cups of chopped baby Bella or Cremini mushrooms (optional, but I think it adds a nice flavor)
3 tbsp of chopped fresh oregano
Fresh parsley
Salt and pepper
1-2 tsp of sugar



Directions:

Bring large pot or Dutch oven to medium high heat, add your ground beef, breaking up with a wooden spoon as it cooks.

Meanwhile, peel your zucchini, carrots, onion, and garlic.  Get out your whopper chopper (as I call mine) and add all the veggies to the chopper, including mushrooms, and give it a whirl.  It should resemble this:

Once your ground beef is browned, remove the beef onto a plate.  This is important in order to prevent drying of the meat, especially if you're using lean meat.  You will add it back in later.

You should have some fat from the beef rendered in the pot so just use that to cook the veggies with.  Add the vegetables to your pot and cook on medium high heat for 15 minutes or so.  The veggies will be watery from the zucchini and mushrooms so you want to dry it out a bit via cooking or your sauce will be too watery.

After 15 minutes, add your two cans of crushed tomatoes, beef, chopped oregano, sugar, and a GENEROUS amount (at least 2 tablespoons) of salt.  This is a really big batch of pasta sauce we are making and since we didn't use any pre-made sauces, there will be no added salt or sugar.

Mix well, cover, and reduce heat to a low simmer for 1-2 hours.  The longer the sauce cooks, the tastier it becomes with all the flavors coming together beautifully.  After an hour, check the sauce and add more salt if needed.  It will likely need it!

When ready to serve, chop some fresh basil or parsley and top with freshly-grated Parmesan.  Serve over your favorite pasta! I've found bowtie to be really easy for toddlers to grasp and that particular pasta grabs sauces really well too.  Freeze the leftover sauce in airtight plastic containers to reheat later!