I served my poor family tofu and greens for dinner one night this week and then proceeded to make a mouth-watering, meaty pasta sauce later that evening. I was about ready to cook up some pasta and do dinner all over again, it smelled so good, but we managed to wait to eat it until the following night. I then froze the rest to enjoy this winter.

Hidden Greens Pasta Sauce :: in bulk
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Serves: 30+
 
With more green things than we could eat in a week, and in an attempt to "sneak" a little more of it into my family's diet, I made this simple pasta sauce we'll be enjoying for many meals to come.
Ingredients
  • 4 lbs ground beef
  • 1 #10 can pasta sauce
  • 1 #10 can diced tomatoes
  • 1 small can tomato paste
  • 2 large onions
  • 5 Tablespoons minced garlic
  • 10 large swiss chard leaves, finely chopped
  • 10 large kale leaves, stems removed and finely chopped
  • any other veggies you like (but remember if you are freezing it, you can always add to it when you warm it up for dinner)
  • oregano, parsley, basil, pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. In a very large pot, brown meat and drain grease.
  2. Add onions and garlic as the meat browns.
  3. Add all other ingredients.
  4. Simmer on the stove for 2+ hours.
  5. Cool and freeze in single meal portions. (For my family of 2 adults and 2 tots, 2 cups of sauce is the perfect amount. I scooped 2 cups into quart size freezer bags and laid flat to freeze. We ended up with 13 meals worth of sauce from this recipe.)

the hidden greens
I love “hiding” this much green in anything.
tomatoes
Just waiting for tomato season. Don’t judge. Gotta love Costco!
bags frozen flat fit great in the freezer
Not that cute, but 12 dinners in the freezer? Yes. These were laid flat to freeze then store great in my narrow freezer standing side by side.
csa :: week five