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Sneaky Spaghetti with Pureed Veggies

The original recipe appeared on Mommy’s Kitchen.net.

When I saw this recipe on Pinterest I thought it would be perfect for certain kiddos of mine that have a hard time eating their veggies. I was also excited to try out my new food processor so choosing this sneaky spaghetti was a no brainer. I started out by steaming the veggies I would be using in the sauce – zucchini, carrots, celery, red and green peppers. Here is the recipe with my notes.

Ingredients:
1 – lb ground turkey
2 – sweet Italian sausage links, remove casings (I used chicken sausage with no additives/nitrates.)
1 – small to medium onion, chopped
2 – cloves garlic, minced (I doubled the garlic.)
1 – orange, green or yellow bell pepper, seeded and pureed
1/2 – cup carrots, shredded or pureed
1/2 – cup zucchini, shredded or pureed
1 – medium rib of celery, chopped or pureed
1 – 28 oz can Italian style tomatoes in puree
1 – 14 oz can Italian diced tomatoes, with juice (I didn’t have Italian style so I used fire roasted tomatoes and just added a bit more basil.)
1 – 6 oz can tomato paste
1/2 – cup water (if using frozen pureed veggies omit the water)
2 – 3 tablespoon sugar (I used unrefined coconut sugar.)
1 – bay leaf
1 – teaspoon dried basil
1/2 – tablespoon dried oregano
1/2 – teaspoon crushed thyme
1 – teaspoon salt
1 – 16 oz package spaghetti noodles (I used whole wheat pasta.)

Directions:

In a large sauce pan, crumble the turkey and Italian sausage. Add the onion and garlic and cook over medium heat until the meat is cooked through. Drain off any fat. Add the meat mixture to a 4 – 6 qt crock pot.

Stir in the tomato paste and all the canned tomatoes. Use a large spoon to break up the whole tomatoes. Stir in the pureed vegetables (bell pepper, carrots, zucchini, celery).

Add the spices, sugar, water and bay leaf. Cover and cook on low for 6 – 8 hours. Stirring occasionally. Serve over cooked pasta.

Shredded Vegetables:
If using shredded vegetables add the carrots, celery and zucchini when the meat mixture is fully cooked and drained. Continue to cook, stirring, until the vegetables are limp, about 5 minutes.

Recipe yields: 6 -8 servings

The spaghetti was thick, chunky and delicious. Although there is a little more prep time to this recipe, everyone loved it and it tasted even better as leftovers. This will now be my go to recipe for spaghetti, especially if I have extra veggies I need to use up. 🙂

If you have any other favorite recipes for sneaking in veggies, let me know in the comments.

If you are on Pinterest, let me know so I can follow you. You can find me here: http://pinterest.com/rol_bobbi/. 🙂

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