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I have visions in my head of having a kid or two, a house, and hosting Sunday dinner with my mom and Mike’s parents. Doesn’t it just sound so idyllic? To have your own and your whole family’s lives together enough to be able to host a nice dinner for 10 people every single Sunday night? It sounds like a dream to me.

But there’s that whole having your life together bit that I’d really have to nail down before I could ever do something like that. And I suppose I’d need at least one kid and a house as well. But the food part? I’ve got that part down pat.

Last weekend I decided to throw a whole bunch of tasty ingredients into my slow cooker on Friday night. I set it to low and when I woke up Saturday morning my apartment smelled like a fine Italian dining establishment. There’s nothing I love more than waking up to an already finished recipe first thing in the morning. That morning I ate spoonfuls upon spoonfuls of this sauce straight from the slow cooker for breakfast. It was the best.

This recipe is a great choice for your Sunday dinners when you only have about 15 minutes of active time to spend on dinner. It’s also paleo, Whole30, and contains no added sugars so it’s a good choice for a wide variety of diet types. I chose to cook up a spaghetti squash and spiralize some zucchini noodles when I ate this sauce for lunch all week this week. You could also serve it over traditional pasta or eat it however else you would normally eat meat sauce! It simply does it all.

Are you a Sunday dinner person? If so, how long has it been a tradition? What are some of your favorite recipes and why? I need to know it all!

thehungryhungryhiker

Slow Cooker Sunday Sauce

A delicious, simple, hands off recipe for meat sauce – a family favorite!
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 8 hours
Total Time 8 hours 10 minutes
Servings: 8 people
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients Equipment Method

Ingredients
  

  • 1 lb ground beef
  • 1 lb ground pork
  • 1 yellow onion, large diced small
  • 6 cloves garlic minced
  • 2 cups kale, packed destemmed then shredded (I used a food processor)
  • 6 basil leaves, fresh shredded
  • 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
  • 28 ounce can tomato puree
  • 3 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 tbsp dried oregano
  • sea salt to taste
  • fresh ground black pepper to taste

Equipment

  • Slow cooker

Method
 

  1. Add all of the ingredients to a slow cooker. Stir to combine and break the meat up a bit. Cook on low for 8-10 hours.
  2. Stir and break up meat. Serve sauce hot over spaghetti squash or zucchini noodles for Whole30, or whatever pasta you prefer if not on Whole30. Garnish with fresh basil if desired and enjoy!