ground meat | Life Of Joy

A tomato-based meat sauce with some of the acidity removed.

I’m going to share my “recipe” for spaghetti today. It’s one of those, not-really-a-recipe, kind of recipes though. My mom taught me to make this and she never used a recipe either.

Actually, I use this same sauce, with only slight changes, for lasagna too. Don’t be scared off by the zoodles (the green strands). This is my normal spaghetti sauce that I serve over angel hair pasta but since I’m on keto right now, we are having it over the strips of sauteed zucchini.

So this is super simple. Start by browning one pound of ground meat. I use ground turkey right now. Season with some salt and pepper. Add one 6 ounce can of tomato paste. Then fill the empty can with water and add it as well; add one more can of water and combine.

Mix it in well and add 16 ounces of plain tomato sauce.

Add a sprinkling of onion powder and a dash of garlic powder. Simmer.

Now the important thing is to add about 1/8th of a teaspoon of baking soda. Stir it around. It will bubble up and remove some of the acidicness. (Yeah, that’s probably not even a word. ) If you cook this in a cast iron skillet like I did, don’t let it simmer very long with the baking soda in it or it will darken on top. It doesn’t do this in any other skillet or pan that I know of.

Serve over pasta or zoodles or whatever you choose.

Here I added some sauted onions, peppers, and mushrooms on top, as well as shredded cheese. Once stirred altogether, it looks like this.

Spaghetti

Ingredients

1# ground meat
onion powder
garlic powder
salt
pepper
6 ounce can tomato paste
16 ounces canned tomato sauce
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
Shredded cheese or Parmesan cheese (optional)
1/3 cup diced green, red, orange, or yellow pepper (optional)
1/3 cup diced onion (optional)
1/2 cup diced mushrooms (optional)

Instructions

Brown the ground meat. (Can add the veggies to cook with the meat or saute separately.)
Season with salt and pepper.
Add tomato paste. Fill empty can with water (two times) and add to meat and tomato paste.
Add tomato sauce.
Sprinkle with onion powder and dash with garlic powder.
Bring to a simmer.
Add the baking soda.
Serve over zoodles or pasta.

https://lifeofjoy.me/spaghetti/

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

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Slow-cooked cabbage with ground meat, bacon, and a touch of tomato sauce.

This is another of those recipes I got back when I was either on Atkin’s or on the hCG diet. I got it from http://genaw.com/lowcarb/index.html. She has tons of low carb recipes over there. I like a lot of them. The green been and hamburger casserole is a favorite here.

As some of you may recall, Michael is allergic to beef and pork, so I have to change this up a bit for him. However, this is one of those recipes that I’m unwilling to change for myself and the kids. (Yeah, they’re not really “kids” any more but what do you call young adults that still live with you?) So, I change it up a bit for Michael and make it with the beef and bacon for the kids and me.

Start by browning your ground beef with the chopped onion and some salt and pepper.

Chop the cabbage.

Spray your 9×13 casserole dish. Place half of the cabbage on the bottom of your pan and season with salt and pepper.

Next place the browned ground meat (and onions) over the cabbage.

Next add the rest of the cabbage with more salt and pepper.

Spoon about 2 cups of tomato sauce on top of the cabbage. Then add bacon. The original directions say to place 3 pieces of bacon across the top. I happened to have these bacon pieces so I laid them out evenly over the top.

As you can see, I put a bit more than 3 whole pieces but I like the bacon.

Cover with foil and bake at 350º for 3 hours. NOW I MUST SAY that I used a glass pan, so I reduced the temperature down to 325º. I also like my bacon a little crispy because I’m going to eat that yummy stuff rather than discard it like the original directions state. Consequently, I removed the foil for the last 30-60 minutes of baking.

I have a gas oven so broiling things is a real pain but if I had an electric oven, I’d just broil it to crisp up the bacon.

When I do this with ground turkey and turkey bacon, I add a little coconut oil (or olive oil) because these meats are way too lean.

Crazy Cabbage

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds ground beef
small onion, diced
small head of cabbage, coarsely chopped (less than two pounds before trimming)
nearly 2 cups tomato sauce
salt and pepper

Instructions

Brown the beef with the onions, salt, and pepper.
Grease 9x13 casserole dish.
Place half the cabbage in the pan.Season with salt and pepper.
Spread cooked beef and onions over the cabbage.
Spread remaining cabbage atop the beef. Season with salt and pepper.
Spoon tomato sauce atop the cabbage.
Place bacon on top of the tomato sauce.
Cover with foil and bake at 350º for 3 hours. (I removed the foil for the last 30-60 minutes to brown the bacon because I'm not tossing that yumminess.)

https://lifeofjoy.me/crazy-cabbage/

I hope you like this lower carb meal. (It is definitely NOT low fat!)