Time Out for Pasta!

I‘ve been working on a summer marinara or meat sauce for a while now. I was looking for something light. We like pasta around here, and typically have something pasta-related once per week. {The kids always use brown rice pasta to avoid the allergy problem, so we are all happy! I even found brown rice spaghetti recently at Trader Joe’s.} I have three or four basic pasta sauce recipes, two of which I make often {a red wine sauce and a stick-to-your-ribs chunky meat sauce}.

Neither of these work well with my morning sickness.

However, I have now perfected a light sauce using olive oil that is perfect for our needs. It doesn’t seem as hot, which is nice now that the temperatures are rising. In fact, today I ate some cold out of the fridge in a moment of insanity. It was good. Leave out the meat, and I think it’d qualify as a pasta salad if you needed it to.

Here’s the recipe:

GFCF Summer Red Sauce
Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef, browned {I don’t drain my meat since we have a generally low-fat diet and children need a lot of fat for growing. The meat, by the way, is totally optional}
1/3 to 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil {unfiltered if you have it}
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. dried basil
2 tsp. dried oregano
2 tsp. dried parsley
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper, ground
2 cans {28 oz. each} diced tomatoes {if you have a sensitive child, check your labels!}
1 can {15 oz.} tomato sauce {again, check the labels}
1 can {4 oz.} sliced mushrooms, drained {you could do two cans, but my kids aren’t big on mushrooms}

Directions:
Put all your ingredients in a giant pot and simmer for about 15 minutes. Serve over pasta!