Crock Pot Bolognese Sauce

I have been super stressed with house stuff lately and there are two things that I like to do to relieve stress. Run and chop. Since I am still on my clean out the freezer kick I decided that the best way to go would be to make a post run hearty meat sauce. This sauce is a perfect freezer friendly comfort food. It is great on spaghetti, served with a crusty bread for an appetizer or even incorporated into your favorite Italian dishes.

There are several secrets to a good meat sauce and although my recipe often changes based on what I have around these are things I never compromise on.
1. The trinity- the base of a good sauce is always equal parts celery, carrots and onion
2. Meat- I like to use two types of meat. Usually I go with ground beef and a pork sausage
3. Sugar- I know this sounds strange but sugar really changes the sauce.

3 Celery stalks
3 Carrots
1 Onion
6 Garlic cloves
¼ C EVOO
1 lb of ground beef
½ lb of Italian pork sausage, casing removed
1 small tomato paste
2 Large cans of whole or chopped tomatoes (I use fire roasted)
2 C full bodied red wine
½ C balsamic vinegar
2 bay leaves
2 tbs of Italian seasoning
1/t tsp red pepper flakes
½ C grated parmesan cheese
¼ C sugar
Salt to taste

Puree celery, carrots, onions and garlic in a food processor. Heat oil in a pan and add vegetable puree and salt to taste. Cook for 10-15 minutes stirring frequently. Add the meat and brown for another 10-15 minutes.

Poor meat and veggie mix into the crock pot and add all the other ingredients. If you decided to use whole tomatoes break them apart with a spoon or fork. Allow the sauce to cook on low for 4 hours.  At the end of the cooking process I blend using my immersion blender to break up the meat. If you do not have an immersion blender you can pour small batches of the sauce back into your food processor or blender to complete this process. It is totally worth the extra step because the sauce ends up a wonderful consistency.