Seriously The Best Spaghetti Sauce

I don't do a lot of spaghetti these days, way too many carbs in the pasta and I've kind of lost my taste for jarred sauces. I have tried a few homemade red sauces in the past but had never found one that I really liked, jarred sauces being easier for the lazy cook. I've used the Dreamfields high fiber pastas for the past few years but it's so high in fiber that it gives me really really bad gas, so I think next time I want spaghetti I'll skip the gas and just go with regular high carb pasta. But like I said spaghetti is not something I eat a lot of these days.

However...sometimes nothing will do but spaghetti and when I found this recipe in the latest issue of Taste of Home magazine, it sounded simple to make, healthy, cheap and good. And was it ever!

Cheap, all you need is some ground beef, a can of tomato sauce, a few vegetables and some Italian seasoning and time wise, about 30 minutes from start to ready to eat.

This recipe is called Hearty Garden Spaghetti and here is how you make it.

Ingredients:
1 lb. lean ground beef (I used ground sirloin)
1 small onion finely chopped (I like sweet onions when I do anything with onion in it)
1 medium red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 medium zucchini, finely chopped
1/2 lb. sliced fresh mushrooms (I did not do the mushrooms as I really dislike fungus but if you like fungus, there you go)
1 8oz can tomato sauce
2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
8 oz spaghetti noodles, uncooked
grated Parmesan cheese if you want

1/ In a dutch oven coated with cooking spray (or a spoonful of olive oil like I did since my dutch oven is already nonstick) cook beef, onion and red pepper over medium-high heat for 5-7 minutes or until beef is cooked, breaking up beef into crumbles, drain.
2/ Put beef aside for now and cook the zucchini and mushrooms in the dutch oven 3-5 minutes or until tender. Add the beef mixture back, stir in tomato sauce and seasonings. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer, covered for 15 minutes or so.
3/ While sauce is simmering cook your spaghetti noodles.

Top with parmesan if you want and eat.

This makes a very chunky sauce, which I thought was very good. Keith really liked it too but suggested a second can of tomato sauce for a bit more of a saucy texture. He also wants yellow squash in there too next time I make it. Which I will, it really was good and definitely a keeper! And easy, did I say easy?