~Eggplant Meat Sauce~

Eggplant Meat Sauce
served over Barilla PLUS Penne

It has been a quick Saturday!  Oh sure, it has 24 hours like every day has.  Not too sure where the daytime hours went.  O.K., maybe watching the Boston College Basketball game on ESPN today did take a couple of hours this afternoon!  :)  The snow falling outside reminded me that we are in the winter season.  It's been a relaxing Saturday!  This is when the Ziploc Freezer containers filled with ready made dinners come in so handy.  "What's for dinner?" can be answered by a trip to the freezer.  Today there was no need to spend a large amount of time in my kitchen.  It was a defrost, reheat & eat kind of day!

Eggplant Meat Sauce served over Barilla PLUS Penne was so yummy!  The date labelled on the container of the sauce was August 5, 2013.  During this past August's heat, my Slow Cooker was put to work often containing fresh local veggies.  Dinners were packed away in our large freezer for an evening such as tonight.  The recipe is below:
     
Eggplant Meat Sauce

Ingredients:

(1) Green Pepper, cut into chunks
(1) lb. Ground Beef - Brown in skillet, removes fat
(1) large Eggplant - Cut into slices. Cut each slice in 6 pieces.
(1) small Zucchini - Cut in slices.
Dehydrated Onion, Parsley - as desired
Fresh Spinach - if desired
(1) can Tomatoes - can be whole & cut in quarters or diced
About 28 oz. Tomato Sauce
(1) 6 oz. can Tomato Paste
1/4 teaspoon each Garlic Powder, Oregano, Basil

 Method:

1. Spray Slow Cooker pot with PAM.
2. Brown Ground Beef in skillet.
3. Wash Green Pepper, cut into chunks & place in Slow Cooker's pot.
4. Add browned Ground Beef.
5. Add Eggplant pieces & sliced Zucchini.
6. Add Onions & Parsley. 
7. Cover with Spinach, if desired.
8. Add drained cut/diced Tomatoes.
9. In small bowl mix Tomato Paste with Tomato Sauce until smooth.
10. Add Tomato Sauce/Paste to pot.
11. Add Garlic Powder, Oregano & Basil.
12. Cover with lid.
13. Cook on High (#5) Setting for 4 hours.
14. Serve over Pasta of choice.

This recipe is a keeper to be used again next summer!  It's great to prepare when there is an abundance of fresh local veggies available.  An added plus is that this sauce freezes very well.   

Enjoy!

Yummy!