veggie spaghetti sauce

I've posted in the past about veggie spaghetti sauce...but now I found a way to make it easier and much more delicious!! Since trying to eat more real foods I've been spending more time at the farmer's market and people from church have often blessed us with produce..but one thing I'm good at but trying to recover from is letting food go bad. So, I try to use my produce as soon as possible. Like when I bought peaches at the farmer's market on Saturday and noticed they were more ripe than I hoped they would be so I made some peach cobbler Saturday night. Well, I've gotten some green peppers and tomatoes from a family at church and I had some in my produce basket before that so I ended up making two batches of homemade spaghetti sauce. And here's how I did it!

I cut up a bunch of veggies....

peeled and chopped three carrots, one zucchini, chopped one onion, three green peppers, and about five tomatoes. Then I threw that all in the crock-pot which was set to low. I added some garlic, oregano and basil. I also added one can of tomato sauce and the first time I made the spaghetti sauce I didn't have as many tomatoes so I added a can of diced tomatoes. I let it simmer and cook all day long...at least eight hours. I think the longer it cooks the more the flavors come out and the onions get caramelized and the sugars in the sauce come out even more pronounced. I know that my second sauce cooked longer and it tasted a little better to me...could just be what I added or didn't add. The great thing about this sauce is that it doesn't really matter what you have on hand...lots of things work and it's a great way to hide veggies!! I also added a small can of tomato paste and some italian seasoning right before I pureed the whole thing.

Then I busted out my immersion blender for the first time ever (I got it as a Christmas gift last year) shame on me I know. I could have been making so many things smooth so much easier...but now I know!

 And I ended up with 8 jars of spaghetti sauce. Most went into the freezer but a couple are in fridge for me to use this week!!