My kids eat just about anything you put in front of them, except for my 3 year old.  He is a no vegetable kind of kid.  Once in a while I can get him to eat a canned bean or two.  No matter how I try to hide them he seems to find them.  He is the only kid I know that can pick out the tiniest bit of vegetable while in his mouth full of other food!  I had to come up with a way to get him to consume them unknowingly. What better way than in his favorite food spaghetti!

Veggie Spaghetti Sauce idea came about last year when my garden produced so many yellow squash we couldn’t keep up eating them.  Well, my husband and I couldn’t anyway.  So one afternoon while I was getting a batch of sauce ready I decided to cut up my yellow crookneck squash and add it to the pot.  Then I looked around the fridge to see what else I had.  That is when I noticed a small bag of dried out baby carrots and a few wrinkly peppers.  I added those to the mix too.

This year I added Roma tomatoes, Big Boy tomatoes, Yellow Pear tomatoes, bell peppers, yellow crookneck squash, carrots, and onions to my pot.  Tasted so good!!!!

After simmering until the carrots were soft, I cooled my pot and added it to my blender. My blender holds about 6 cups so I have to have a large bowl to put the pureed mix into so that I can keep emptying the pot.  It usually takes about 3-4 blender jars full before I have emptied my pot.  My family has nothing against seeds in our sauce so I completely skip any steps that involved removing them from the tomatoes or squash.

Once the mix is well blended I add it back into my large pot and bring to simmer.  I add salt and Italian Seasoning mix and let it simmer until an inch or so has been removed.  I would say it is roughly 30-45 minutes.  Then I pour it into a couple jelly roll pans to cool.  The sauce cools much more quickly that way.  Then I bag it, 3-4 cups per bag, and stack in the freezer.

When I add the sauce to the hamburger I find it best to simmer with the meat for 15 minutes to help reduce it further and give it a thicker consistency.

I have used this recipe, minus the Italian Seasoning, to make tomato sauce.  Then I add any seasoning when I make the meal.  This works great if you plan to use the sauce in things like Chili.  I like to add Jalopenoes and chili seasoning to the plain sauce.  So it is really up to each person on how one may want to make and freeze the sauce.

Veggie Filled Spaghetti Sauce

• 2 gallons tomatoes. skins removed
• 2 yellow crookneck squash
• 1 small bag baby carrots
• 2 small or 1 medium bell pepper
• 1 medium onion, I prefer white but you can use yellow too
• 2 TBSP canning salt, or add to taste
• 3 TBSP Italian seasoning mix, or add to taste