Home-made Crock-Pot Spaghetti Sauce

Ok, I know you can just buy a jar of spaghetti sauce, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's what I grew up with, and I loved it. But honestly, I think this is better, and probably better for you, and it's not hard. It hardly takes any time at all in prep-time, but try to start it a couple hours before you want to eat, because the longer it has to cook, the better it will be.

1 pound ground beef
1 16 oz can of tomato sauce
1 6 oz can of tomato paste
1 10-16 oz can of diced tomatoes (my regular tomatoes come in 16 oz cans, but the Rotel tomatoes I used tonight are 10 oz)
1 2 oz can of sliced olives (this is how much I love you people -- I had used my last can of olives, so I wasn't sure what size can it was...so I dug through the trash to find it for you. Then I washed my hands.)
1 handful chopped or sliced mushrooms
1/2 onion, diced
garlic powder
onion powder
Nature's Seasons
pasta

Brown ground beef. While it's browning, chop your onions and mushrooms. Pour the tomato sauce, paste, olives and diced tomatoes into the crock pot and add your veggies. Add liberal amounts of garlic powder, onion powder, and Nature's Seasons. Stir.

When your meat is browned, mix it into the tomato mixture in the crock pot. You can drain the meat if you like, but personally, I think the little bit of grease (especially if you use lean ground beef) adds flavor. Cover and cook on low for however long you like. By now, you know what I did while it was cooking -- went and took a nap with the baby. :) I think our sauce simmered for about 4 hours altogether.

(Side note -- I promised "healthy" recipes. I hope you don't disagree with me when I say that I would rather have some grease in my food than eat food with unpronounceable ingredients. So...it follows that if I'm making my food mostly from scratch, I can have a little grease for flavor...which, let's face it, is tasty. And the sauce doesn't turn out greasy feeling if you cook it long enough. BUT if you don't like grease, then by all means, drain the meat. The sauce will still be tasty -- I've done it that way too, and it was still very good!)

When you're ready, boil and drain your pasta, then just toss it in the crock pot and stir it in. Then I leave the crock pot on "warm" so that if anyone wants seconds, it isn't cold.

My husband has always loved my homemade spaghetti sauce -- tonight was the first time I tried it in the crock pot. He says it's better than ever.

4.5 stars