Drive by any park and you can tell sports is back in full swing. Fall baseball, football and soccer games fill every space at our local parks. It brings back fond memories of our boys’ busy sports schedules.
Along with those busy schedules came the necessity of easy dinners and boy, did our CrockPot sure get a workout. Eating dinner together was a big deal for me; I wanted to make sure we ate together as many times during the week as we could.
One time saver meal is meatball sandwiches. The other more popular meal is what I like to call lazy spaghetti. Lazy in that the CrockPot does all the work and you get to come home to a delicious meal without the fuss.
Now, I can make my own spaghetti sauce and there are times for that, but dinner after football practice or a volleyball game isn’t one of them. I had as much time as it took them to put away their gear and shower before the “I’m starving” chants grew to a shout.
The same dinner dilemma can be said while we are on a trip. After having fun all day, who wants to come back to the RV and have to make a complicated dinner. Sometimes it’s nice to have an almost gourmet meal in the RV, but more times than not we are looking for something really good, really fast.
Begin by browning your meat. We are a ground turkey house but feel free to use your meat of choice. After spooning out the grease, dump the browned meat in the CrockPot.
Open your jars of sauce, pour it in and give it a good stir. I like to use one big jar and one regular sized jar for one pound of meat. If I have a small can of tomato paste, I add that as well for a richer flavor. When picking jarred sauce, I’m a Prego girl over Ragu. But I couldn’t pass up a free coupon for Ragu. Turn the CrockPot on and you’re done. I like to let mine go for hours, a lot like I do with homemade sauce because for me, the longer it goes the better it tastes. Set it on low if you have several hours or on high if you need it done faster.
All you have to do when you get home is boil your noodles. For even faster cook time, try thin spaghetti or angel hair pasta noodles. If you want the entire spaghetti experience, pair it with some awesome garlic bread.
Leftovers are new since it’s only the two of us now but I still like to “cook big” with spaghetti. Leftover sauce freezes well and makes for an even easier RV dinner. Thaw, heat and simmer while the noodles cook and viola, dinner is served.
Lazy Spaghetti
- one pound ground meat (beef, turkey and/or chicken)
- one large jar and one regular size jar spaghetti sauce
- one small can tomato paste (optional)
- one pound spaghetti noodles
- Parmesan cheese
Brown the meat, drain grease. Place in CrockPot, add spaghetti sauce and stir. Cook on low for several hours, stirring occasionally.
Boil water and cook noodles according to package directions, top with sauce and devour.