Did you know that you can make spaghetti sauce in the crockpot?
I didn’t, but I tossed all my ingredients in there anyway to see what would happen. What happen was awesome sauce. Literally. It tastes sooo good! My favorite thing about this totally made up on the fly recipe is that it has veggies chopped and blended so small that my toddler has no idea he’s eating mushrooms, carrots and tomatoes! I even made one with asparagus! It’s the sneaky mom cooking method!
To prep the tomatoes for peeling, you need a large pot of boiling water and a bowl of ice water. Using a knife, cut an X into the top of each tomato (this will help in the peeling process) and place a handful of tomatoes in the boiling water for about 1 minute. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the tomatoes to the ice water. The skin will crack and with a little help, it will slide right off. It was so easy that my 2 year old did all the peeling himself!
After they are peeled, chop them into pieces and place them in the crockpot. The rest of the recipe involves chopping and tossing the ingredients into the crockpot!
Ingredients
30 tomatoes
Box of mushrooms
½ bag carrots
1/2 cup Fresh oregano
1/2 cup Fresh basil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic salt
4 tsp brown sugar
1. Peel tomatoes (see above explanation!)
2. Chop tomatoes and place in crockpot. I used about 30 tomatoes.
3. In a food processor, chop a box of fresh mushrooms, 1/2 bag of peeled carrots, 1/2 cup fresh oregano and 1/2 cup fresh basil. Add the chopped ingredients to the crockpot.
4. Add 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp garlic salt and 4 tsp of brown sugar. Stir.
5. Cook on low for 8 hours. Stir occasionally. The tomatoes should make plenty of juice as they cook, but if your ingredients seem really dry, you can put 1/4 cup of water into it to give it some moisture.
6. Either use an immersion blender or pour contents into a blender. Blend until smooth and then place in a jar. I did not can these. I jarred them with the largest jars I could find and put them in the freezer where they should be good for about 1 year. When I need one, I let it thaw on the counter all day.
I know I am no food blogger, but I have been becoming a little more adventurous in the kitchen! So I plan on sharing those adventures with you!
This is such a great idea – I always forget about my crockpot & I am always running out of spaghetti sauce… I think I need to get busy 🙂
Renew Your Space recently posted…Valentines For My {Finicky} Guy
I wouldn’t survive without my crockpot!!
I wish I’d seen this over the summer when tomatoes were in season! also.. CUTE BLOG!
Roaen recently posted…When All Else Fails, Go Visit the Airplanes | National Air & Space Museum
Thank you! Yes, this is more of a summer project, but we get our tomatoes through a local co-op. In fact, I made a couple jars of this today with the tomatoes that I got from it! Thanks for stopping by!
Looks delicious! and using the Crockpot is a fabulous idea! Rhondda #SITSBlogging
So easy too!!
What a fabulous idea! Anytime I can use my crockpot to make my life easier is a good thing!
Susie (The Esthetic Goddess) recently posted…How To Use Retin A Correctly
Amen to that!!
Looks DELICIOUS! Always looking for good crockpot recipes being a busy mom of 2 myself! Thanks!! #SITSBlogging
I wouldn’t make it in this life without my crockpot 😉
This sounds so easy and amazing! I featured it on My Favorite Things this week: http://timeforseason.blogspot.com/2014/02/my-favorite-things-saturdays-28.html
Steph recently posted…My Favorite Things Saturdays 2/8
Thank you soooo much for featuring my post! It is the easiest thing and it tastes ah-mazing!
I’ve been toying with the idea of making my own spaghetti sauce and I love that you can make this in the crock pot. I came over from the SITS girls link up. Pinning this!
It’s super super easy! Toss it all in and leave it all day!
What a great recipe! I really need to start making my own instead of buying Ragu every time we want spaghetti. 🙂 Pinning this for later!
Nicole recently posted…Beware of the Girl Scouts: Jared Muses
Once you make your own, you won’t go back to Ragu!
Thanks for sharing at Essential Fridays.
Blessings
Mel from Essential Thing Devotions
Mel Caldicott recently posted…Waiting on God – When God’s Timing is Different to Our Timing
I love making spaghetti sauce in the crockpot; actually I love making anything in the crockpot. Sneaking in veggies is a great idea.
TaMara recently posted…Food on Friday – Cabbage and Rice (Guest Post by Mindie)
I love the crockpot so much! It saves me so much time! And I love being a sneaky mom cook. I’ve even managed to sneak bell peppers into one of our dinners and my husband dislikes bell peppers. He never even knew!! Sneaky cooking is kind of fun 😉
I just wanted to say that this is a great recipe but a bit expensive for this time of year. The best time to stock up on tomato based recipes is in the summer, when you can pick your own or buy them much more locally for a fresher taste and better price. In the summer I can and freeze tons of tomatoes and sauce to last all year. Just a thought to anyone wanting to plant a garden this spring.
Thanks for letting my readers know! I am a novice in the canning dept. The co-op I get the tomatoes from is still rather cheap and available during this season, but I totally get that canning is more of a summer thing! I would love to plant a garden!
This is something I really need to do. It’s really very simple and much more healthy than canned spaghetti sauce. Did you know tomato based CANNED products – the cans are lined with a chemical that contains a carcinogenic? Same with sodas dark in color – coke, rootbeer, pepsi – same chemical lining. #SITSBlogging
Susan recently posted…Ninja MEGA Kitchen System 1500 Giveaway
There is so many nasty things in processed foods. Over the past year, we have transitioned and pretty much got rid of all the processed stuff. There’s still a few things we get, but for the most part, if it has ingredients we can’t pronounce, we make it from scratch.