Monday, January 9, 2012

Spaghetti Sauce Stew

Ma would not have had the option to buy a jar of good spaghetti sauce but since I do I am happy to make my life simpler by doing just that!

Finding a good sauce can be tough. You have to read the ingredients carefully. Anything with "sugar" or "canola oil" is not coming home with me!  Nothing modified or partially hydrogenated is going to cut it either. I also don't want any added starches. I just want veggies, spices, and olive oil please. Turns out this is a tall order!

Trader Joe's makes a roasted garlic sauce that meets my criteria but it is not organic. I have found a good plain basil and tomato flavored sauce at Sprouts that was organic but I cannot remember the brand. I will update this post with this info next time I buy some. This time I used a non organic brand from Costco that fit the bill of only including real ingredients.


I don't do pasta anymore because I don't do wheat anymore. Gluten is NOT my friend at all. It makes my eyes itchy and red, my nose stuffy, and my tummy puffy. Who wants to do that to themselves right? I know it may sound crazy and impossible but trust me, giving up wheat really is for the better for everyone in my humble opinion. Today's wheat really is not the same wheat that our ancestors were eating. Read the sample download of this book or the whole thing for more info: Wheat Belly. I just read the sample the other day and I am now planning to read the whole book. Great eye opening info!

Sometimes I make spaghetti squash and shred that up as my pasta substitute. Other times I have cut onions into large slices and simmered them in a sauce as the noodle like replacement. If you love onions give that a try sometime, it is delicious!

This time I came up with a new way to use a good jar of spaghetti sauce: I used it as a broth base for a great veggie stew!

Our box of produce arrived from Abundant Harvest Organics last Wednesday. Thursday morning I finally got to unpacking it all and I decided to use most of it to make a BIG pot of stew because I knew I was going to be too busy to cook much of anything else that week.

Here is what went in to pot from my AHO Box:
  • fresh torn spinach
  • cut up collard greens
  • chunks of baby white potatoes
  • rutabaga chunks
  • sliced carrots & some minced carrot top greens
After I put all of that in I looked around the kitchen to see what else I had on hand. In went a pack of grass fed beef stew meat and a jar of spaghetti sauce.

I also sliced up a onion and put that in too.

Then I added enough water to cover the veggies and topped this with some fresh cracked salt and pepper.

The house smelled wonderful Thursday night after this stew had been simmering on low in my crock pot all day. It also fed us well for days to come. Can you guess which of my children was the biggest fan?

If you guessed Mr. Jad my spunky 16 month old toddler you are correct!

When it comes to soup you really cannot go wrong in my opinion. Just think like Ma and keep it simple. Take what you have on hand and add some good broth or sauce and you will have a tasty healthy soup in no time!

Happy soup making!

4 comments:

Dede said...

sounds yummy.

Last night I used up some lingering items and also some veggies from last week's crate.

I marianated bone in chicken breasts and drumsticks in a citrus mariande. Grated one of the oranges and one of the lemons, juice both. Added chopped garlic (8 cloves) and oregano. Sliced up another one of the oranges and the last lemon, placing them around the chicken in a roasting pan. I poured the mariande over and let sit for 12 hours. When I returned home, I roasted at 425 for 20 mintues, then reduced to 350 for about 30 more. In the meantime, I peeled and diced the sweet potatoes and boiled until tender. I mashed them with a tbsp of brown sugar, salt and pepper and a large dollop of plain yogurt. Finally, I sauteed the collard greens with shallots and added the spinach. My whole family loved it, especially the pan sauce I created from the chicken.

Jenn said...

Wow! That sounds like an amazing meal. I hope your family appreciates the time you spent in the kitchen creating that masterpiece! Thanks for sharing your ideas and successes.

Susan said...

We had stew tonight too! I had to do something with the rutabagas!

Jenn said...

Don't you love how the rutabaga chunks look the same as chunks of white potato? Everybody at my house thought they were potato chunks.