Slow Cooker Sundays have become a weekly meal I look forward too. And it does not need to be complicated to be enjoyable. Today’s meal is a simple pasta sauce with Italian meatballs using canned crushed tomatoes.
I enjoy making homemade pasta sauce and it’s simple to make and so much more flavorful! I decided to use crushed tomatoes because I thought that might be an ingredient sitting in most people’s cupboards. If you happen to have diced tomatoes, you can use that as well, just puree the tomatoes first.
This makes a lot of sauce so you can easily cut the recipe in half. I am making the full amount so I have extra because I will freeze it and have it with next week’s slow cooker dinner! Any extra sauce will be used for lasagne.
During the Great Depression stale bread, dried bread crumbs or oats were added to ground meat to stretch it and make it go further. It was an easy way to make a bit of ground meat feed a hungry family. I am adding bread soaked in milk into the meatballs. I accidentally poured a bit much, which made the meatballs a bit more loose, making it hard to roll, but that’s ok. It worked and tasted great just the same.
I’m adding the meatballs raw to the sauce because they’re much more tender cooked this way and then we can skip the step of having to cook the meatballs first.
I am also only using half the meatballs and freezing the rest so I can use for another meal – perhaps an alfredo or next time I am making pasta sauce! It’s nice having meatballs ready on hand!
Not only is this sauce great on pasta but you can also have a meatball sandwich/sub, use it in lasagna and much more! I’ll be using this sauce for next Sunday’s meal too – stay tuned for that simple dinner!
Let’s get started!
Toss vegetables into slow cooker along with seasonings.
Add crushed tomatoes or diced tomatoes that have been pureed. If you’d prefer, you can also use pasta sauce, either homemade or store bought. If you are using pasta sauce, omit the sugar and vinegar.
Add water, sugar and red wine vinegar. The sugar will help with that tomato flavor and make it taste more like pasta sauce. The sugar really does balance the sauce. Stir well.
Place lid on start cooking while preparing the meatballs. Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 6 hours.
For the meatballs, toss ground beef into a bowl, along with seasonings, egg, and milk soaked bread. I used a homemade whole wheat bun but you can use a slice of bread. Pour just enough milk to soak bread — adding too much milk will make the meatballs hard to roll. I poured a bit too much milk! Mix well. Roll into meatballs. Place on parchment lined baking sheet until finished.
Drop meatballs into sauce. Press meatballs lightly into sauce. Cover and let cook. I am cooking the sauce on high.
I only added half the meatballs and froze the rest so I can use the meatballs next time I make sauce. This makes a lot of sauce so you really can use all the meatballs.
After 3 hours, I stirred the sauce and tasted for seasoning. I added a bit more of each of the herbs, some sugar as well as a bit of garlic powder since I forgot to add fresh garlic clove. Stir well. Cover and finish cooking.
Here’s the sauce – it looks and tastes so good!
I like leaving the pasta separate from the sauce because it’s find the pasta soaks up all the sauce and this way everyone can have as much pasta as they like with as little or as much sauce as they like.
Tonight we are having Spaghettini but you can cook and serve with any pasta you like.
Serve with shredded cheese and Parmesan cheese.
Refrigerate and leftovers for up to 3 days. You can also freeze the sauce – that’s what I plan to do to have with next week’s Sunday dinner.
Slow Cooker Sunday – Pasta Sauce & Meatballs
1 small onion, diced
1/2 carrot, diced
2 small bell peppers, chopped
1 to 2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
Fresh cracked pepper
1/2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp dried parsley
2 tsp dried basil
Sprinkle garlic powder
2 – 796ml/28oz cans crushed tomatoes
1 cup water
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
Meatballs
1 pound ground beef
1 egg
1 slice bread or bun with enough milk to just soak bread
1/2 tsp salt
Fresh cracked pepper
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
Toss vegetables into slow cooker along with seasonings. Add crushed tomatoes or diced tomatoes that have been pureed. Add water, sugar and vinegar. Stir. Place lid on start cooking while preparing the meatballs. Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 6 hours.
For the meatballs, toss ground beef into a bowl, along with seasonings, egg, and milk soaked bread. Mix well. Roll into meatballs. Drop meatballs into sauce. Press meatballs lightly into sauce. Cover and let cook.
One hour before serving taste and add more seasoning if needed.
Serve over your favorite pasta.
