Healthy beef and macaroni dish...

A calm weekend at the Suburban casa... Yard mowed, taxes done, fertilizer spread by rotund pregnant woman while said taxes were being prepared. And if anybody has any good ideas on how to get the birds to discover the new bird feeder on the porch, let me know...

But I digress. What I really wanted to write about is a new recipe that I got from following a meandering link trail. Man, I really need to copy and paste the URLs for these. But anyhoo, I made it this Sunday night, and it made plenty for freezing as well. It's kind of like glorified, extra veggiefied spaghetti sauce with macaroni noodles, but we liked it. =) I think it'll thaw well for when Mr. X gets here. And I think the paprika gives it a slightly different flavor.

Healthy Beef Macaroni w/ veggies

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef
2 cans petite diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can tomato paste (2.5 oz)
1 bell pepper
1 large onion
2 medium carrots
2 garlic cloves (I use jarred minced garlic)
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp dried oregano
2-3 tsp paprika
2 tsp sugar
pepper or cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
3 c. small macaroni, preferably multigrain

Directions:

Brown, drain and rinse ground beef. You can brown it with a little salt, pepper, and nutmeg for extra flavor. Take all the raw veggies and coarsely chop them together in the food processor. You can use any type of vegetables that you like, really. She says zucchini and brocoli are also good.

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large saucepan and add the vegetables & garlic. Cook for 5 minutes over medium heat.

Add the tomato paste, stir and cook for a minute. This will sweeten the tomato paste a bit.

Add the 2 cans diced tomatoes.

Add in all the spices.

Add the meat to the sauce. Put the lid on and simmer, over low heat, for 30 minutes.

In the mean time, cook 3 cups of (small) macaroni in salted water. Drain, rinse, and add sauce to it. Heat the macaroni through thoroughly and serve with grated or sliced Parmesan cheese.