Connie's Pasta Sauce

Martin's sister-in-law Connie made the most delicious pasta sauce for us the other night before we left to come back to the US. I couldn't quite place the delightful sweet and rich taste it had and noticed that it also had a lovely rosy color. The secret ingredient for this delicious pasta sauce was: grated beets! Connie teaches kindergarten and each teacher has to make lunch for the students once a week and this is one of her most requested recipes from those discerning (and picky) 5 year olds!  She created this pasta sauce as a way of adding more nutritious vegetables to the students' meal.  As a mom herself, she has clearly mastered the age-old technique of hiding nutrients in your kid's food.... She uses a combination of beef and pork, which is sold already combined in Danish grocery stores and she serves this pasta sauce with whole wheat corkscrew (Fusilli) pasta, adding even more nutrition to their lunchtime meal. It's a simple sauce and it naturally appeals to kids because of the natural sweetness and for adults, the beets add a depth of flavor that is deeply satisfying. I'm sure people who think they don't like beets could be converted with this sauce. Besides that, beets are a blood tonic in Chinese Medicine, meaning they help build blood and support both the heart and the liver. So this sauce is really good for you too. I love beets and I couldn't stop eating this pasta sauce,  so I will be making it often in the future!

Connie's Pasta Sauce

1/2 pound ground beef

1/2 pound grond pork

2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 medium red onion minced

2 beets grated

1 28 oz can Whole Tomatoes

1 15 oz can Tomato Sauce

Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large pot.  Add the onion and cook until softened.  Then add in the the ground beef and cook until it is no longer pink.  Add in the grated beets and Tomatoes and use the spatula to break up the whole tomatoes into smaller pieces.  Then, bring to a boil and turn down to a simmer.  Cook for one hour and then add salt and pepper to taste. Serve over whole wheat pasta, spelt pasta or gluten free pasta with lots of fresh grated Parmesan Cheese.

Five Element Analysis

Beef and Beets belong to the Earth Element so this is a very grounding food, plus it is cooked for a long time, which makes it even Earthier.  The onion adds the Metal Element and the Parmesan Cheese enhances this element even more. The Water Element is represented by the ground pork and the Tomatoes add the Fire Element. The Wood Element shows up in the pasta. This ends up being a balanced Five Element Meal and her students are very lucky when Connie makes this delicious sauce!