Fallen Souffle

So this recipe worked out a bit better for me, and I had everything in my pantry which makes this a great “fall back” recipe. We usually just used canned sauce when we make pasta dishes…and not even Ragu or Prego, it’s usually the Kroger brand can for 89 cents. But as much Italian food as we eat and as much as we doctor the sauce up, it doesn’t matter much to us.

I have tried to make homemade sauce in the past but Evan usually turns his nose to it. You see he does not like “chunky” sauce. He likes tomato sauce but does not want to see the seeds and skin…go figure. So I usually stick with the canned stuff but this sauce recipe may be worth keeping around. It takes no time to throw together and can be easily doubled to freeze for later use.

It gets 8 out of 10 crockpots from my Chief Taste Tester Evan and that’s only because I snuck in a small can of diced tomatoes…dern it…can’t pass one by him!

Crockpot Spaghetti Sauce
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons dried basil
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon white sugar
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup red wine
1 pound Italian sausage or ground meat (I left this out this time, but will probably add next time)

1. Heat olive oil in a skillet. Saute onions and garlic until tender, 2-3 minutes. Combine remaining ingredients (except sausage links) in crockpot and add onion and garlic. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

2. With one hour cooking time remaining, cook and brown sausages in a skillet. When browned, place in sauce and continue to simmer. Remove bay leaves before serving. Serve over hot cooked noodles.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

When I was putting this meal together yesterday morning I had high hopes that this would be a great dish. I have honestly never used fresh ginger until yesterday. I absolutely love the smell of it fresh and plan to use it more often now! This was simple to throw together in the morning. I like to use cheap cuts of beef, and often those that are “manager’s special” that are close to their expiration date. That may sound gross, but I promise I don’t get the icky looking ones! And I usually use them
that day.

This dish was ok, tasted like a regular pot roast to me. It was a tad on the salty side, and I used low sodium broth but probably should have used low sodium soy sauce as well. The beef was also dry, but it could be due to the thin pieces of meat I used. Evan munched on it a bit so it couldn’t have been too terribly bad.

When I make it again I will be sure to use all low sodium ingrediants and will probably only cook it for about 5-6 hours.

Crockpot Gingered Beef

1-1/2 lbs. boneless beef round steak, trimmed
4 carrots, cut into 1/2″ pieces
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves minced garlic
1 cup beef broth
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger root
1/4 tsp. pepper
3 Tbsp. cornstarch
Tbsp. water
9 oz. pkg. frozen sugar snap peas, thawed and drained (I omitted this but will probably add next time)
3 cups hot cooked rice

1. Cut beef into 1″ cubes. Place in crockpot along with carrots, onions and garlic. Combine broth, soy sauce, ginger root and pepper in a small bowl and mix well. Pour over beef and vegetables.

2. Cover crockpot and cook on low for 10 to 12 hours or until beef and vegetables are tender. (I would suggest doing it for maybe 6-8 hours if you have large chunk of beef.)

3. Turn crockpot to high heat setting. Mix cornstarch and water in a small bowl and stir into crockpot. Cover and cook on high for 15-20 minutes until thickened. Stir in snap peas and heat another 5-10 minutes until hot. Serve over cooked rice. 6 servings

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!