Slow Cooker Recipe: Tomato Meat Sauce

I'm tired and it's only Monday. Maybe it's because it's dark and rainy (totally different from sunny + rainy). Maybe my lethargy is my ancestral genes communicating there is no point toiling in the fields on rainy days. Today should be spent watching movies, fixing odds and ends and playing with slow cookers.   


Slow Simmered Meat Sauce (cookinglight.com)

Ingredients

• 1  tablespoon  olive oil
• 2  cups  chopped onion
• 1  cup  chopped carrot
• 6  garlic cloves, minced
• 2  (4-ounce) links hot Italian sausage, casings removed
• 1  pound  ground sirloin
• 1/2  cup  kalamata olives, pitted and sliced
• 1/4  cup  no-salt-added tomato paste
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  sugar
• 1  teaspoon  kosher salt
• 1/2  teaspoon  crushed red pepper
• 1  (28-ounce) can no-salt-added crushed tomatoes, undrained
• 1  cup  no-salt-added tomato sauce
• 1  tablespoon  chopped fresh oregano
• 16  ounces  uncooked  pasta
• 1/2  cup  torn fresh basil
• 3  ounces  shaved fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Preparation

1. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add onion and carrot to pan; sauté 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute, stirring constantly. Place vegetable mixture in a 6-quart slow cooker. Add sausage and beef to skillet; sauté 6 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Remove beef mixture from skillet using a slotted spoon. Place beef mixture on a double layer of paper towels; drain. Add beef mixture to slow cooker. Stir olives and next 6 ingredients (through tomato sauce) into slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW 8 hours. Stir in oregano.

2. Prepare pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Serve sauce with hot cooked pasta; top with basil and cheese.

-> Overall--very easy to make. This recipe is simple and  a good base, but I wouldn't say the star of a meal. Would be good for anything to do with Pasta. Next time I will shred the carrots instead of chopping them and add more sweet vegetables like chopped Zucchinis or Eggplant.