Cooking Light Spaghetti and Meat Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs extra lean ground beef
• cooking spray
• 1 1/2 cups diced onions
• 1 1/2 cups diced green bell peppers
• 1 cup diced red bell pepper
• 1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cups shredded zucchini (about 2 large)
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 cup sugar

• 2 (28 ounce) cans crushed tomatoes, undrained

• 1 (14 1/2 ounce) can stewed tomatoes, undrained

• 1 (12 ounce) can tomato paste

• 1 (7 ounce) bottle roasted red peppers, undrained
• 14 cups hot cooked spaghetti (about 1 3/4 pounds uncooked pasta)

Directions

1. 1

   Cook the meat in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until browned, stirring to crumble. Drain meat well, and set aside. Wipe out pan with a paper towel, and coat with cooking spray.

2. 2

   Place the pan over medium-high heat until hot. Add the diced onion, diced bell peppers, mushrooms and minced garlic, and sauté 5 minutes or until tender. Add zucchini, and sauté 5 minutes. Drain vegetables. Return meat and vegetables to pan, and stir in dried oregano, salt, black pepper, and crushed red pepper. Cook mixture over medium-high heat 5 minutes. Add sugar, crushed and stewed tomatoes, tomato paste, and roasted red bell peppers to pan, and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour or until sauce is thick. Serve the meat sauce over pasta.