Healthy Pasta Bolognese

I love bolognese sauce so much.  Thick chunks of meat in a thick red sauce to top off pasta...what's not to love?  Except...it's usually extremely high in calories.  It's usually thickened with heavy cream, and has tons of fat that makes it the way it is.

What's more, it takes several hours to simmer.  I'm rarely home for more than an hour at a time unless i'm sleeping, and I certainly can't take the time to work on a sauce that takes that long. 

So, for all of YOU who are watching your weight or strapped for time, I bring you a healthier, faster bolognese sauce.  Sure, it might be cheating, and I wouldn't serve it to your Italian grandmother, but I'm about THIS much over it.

Ingredients (4-6 servings):
-1 lb lean ground turkey
-1 onion, chopped
-1 bag of frozen mixed veggies (the kind with larger chunks of veggies works better)
-1 jar tomato sauce
-3 cloves garlic, minced
-2 bay leaves
-1 tbsp each of black pepper, garlic powder, oregano, thyme
-1 tsp each of nutmeg, cinnamon
-a splash of wine (i used red, but dry white is traditional)
-salt to taste

1.  First, chop everything you need to chop (onions and garlic). 

Defrost your turkey if it's frozen.

2.  In a large skillet over medium heat, saute the onions until golden brown.  Any respectable recipe begins this way.  Just sayin'.

3.  These are the veggies I used.  The thick pieces work better for this sauce.

Add frozen veggies and increase heat to medium high.

4.  When veggies are no longer frozen and are kinda settling in nicely...

add the garlic, bay leaves, and all the spices.  Spicy up your life!

You might think cinnamon and nutmeg are strange ingredients for a sauce, but TRUST.  Just trust.

5.  Increase heat to high.  Add turkey.  Plop.

Using a spatula, break up the meat into smaller pieces.  Mmm delicious!

6.  Once meat is cooked through, add the jar of tomato sauce.  Here's what I used.

Splash the wine.  This is a rose I got on my wine trip last year...er, one of my wine trips.  I go on a lot of wine trips. 

Reduce heat and allow to simmer for 5 minutes.

Simmer down.  It actually gets quite thick without adding heavy cream. 

Okay, we're ready to serve it! 

Oh my!

Thick, delicious sauce with very little fat added.

A sprinkle of grated parmesan also never hurt anyone.

Oh goodness, so delicious.

This is a great, filling meal.  Tons of veggies make it nice and thick without adding all the calories.

I love this.  I love it so much that I'm adding it to my exclusive club of recipes tabbed as "favorites".

Have a wonderful rest of your week!



For a printable version of this recipe, please click here.