Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 20-25 minutes, with several steps
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small sweet onion, diced fine (or 2 tablespoons granulated onion)
- 4 small garlic cloves, minced (or 2 teaspoons granulated garlic)
- 1 lb ground turkey or ultra-lean ground beef
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 8 ounces whole grain mini-pasta (mini shells, ziti, elbows, etc)
- 1 30 oz can whole peeled tomatoes, pulsed in blender or food processor until smooth (about 7 seconds in a processor)
- 1 14.5 oz can tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- ¼ cup red wine
- ½ teaspoon Sucanat (or sugar)
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon basil
- ¼-1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, to taste
- ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
Heat the oil in a large non-stick sauté pan over medium heat.
Add onion and sauté until softened, 5-7 minutes.
Add garlic and stir, cooking about 1 minute.
Add ground meat, salt, pepper, and break apart, cooking through until no pink is showing, 5-7 minutes. (If you didn’t use the leanest ground meat, pour off the liquid oils at this point to reduce saturated fat.)
Pour dried pasta over the meat, and cover all with processed tomatoes and tomato sauce.
Stir in tomato paste, wine, Sucanat, oregano, basil and pepper.
Increase heat to medium high, and bring to a low boil.
Cover, adjust the heat to maintain a good simmer, and cook, checking simmer for 10-15 minutes or until pasta is al dente ~ stir occasionally, scraping up bottom of the pan and turning pasta to make sure all the noodles are covered with liquid.
Remove from heat and sprinkle the mozzarella and the Parmesan over the top.
Cover again for about 3 minutes until cheese is melted, and serve.
Yield: about 8 cups
Notes
- If you’re using turkey, it’s fine to use the whole 1.3 lb package.
- The tomato paste and wine add additional liquid and body, but if you don’t have them on hand, it’s fine to leave them out.
- I tried this with whole wheat egg noodles. They only took about 9 minutes of heavy simmering to soften and made a very creamy final dish ~ great for kids who are sensitive to the graininess of other whole wheat pastas.
- If you have the time, you can veg this sauce up a bit pretty painlessly. When you process the tomatoes, try adding in an extra cup of shredded carrots, rough-chopped zuchini/summer squash, or even red bell pepper. If your kids are picky, the short cooking time may not be adequate to cook the veggies down enough for them, but for everyone else it makes a flavorful and nutritious addition. For the finicky eaters, you can add pre-cooked veggie purees, or just add a jar of baby food (carrots or zuchini).