My Rose Pasta Sauce

I came up with the idea for this sauce a number of years ago when I was in charge of coordinating lunch for our Oshawa Stake Women's Day Conference. I wasn't sure what to serve and began brainstorming and experimenting. I'd recently heard that traditional alfredo sauce in Italy is made using heavy cream, which gave me the idea to add cream to spaghetti sauce. I tried it and everyone LOVED it so I decided to serve ravioli baked in this sauce at the luncheon. It was a huge hit and everyone loved it. I love it because I've never been a real big fan of plain marinara sauces (too tomato-y) or of cream sauces (they're too rich), so this rose sauce is absolutely perfect. I started calling it rose sauce and have been making it ever since! In fact, it's the only sauce we ever make. I started adding chicken to the sauce to please my dear hubby...it's just as yummy without the chicken though! The chicken goes great with the sauce, so if you want to add meat I'd definitely suggest using chicken and not ground beef!  I've been making it without chicken lately and then Chris just adds some italien meatballs from Costco and loves it with them as well.

And just so you don't feel too bad about the fact that there is whipping cream in the sauce, the amount of cream that's actually in each serving is very small.  We've recently started making it with coconut milk instead of whipping cream and it's just as good and healthier too. The taste is a little different but not a lot.

Rose Pasta Sauce
1 large can Hunt's spaghetti sauce (26 oz) OR 2 cans (8 oz) of tomato sauce and 1 can(6 oz) tomato paste *see Note below for more info
2 cans diced tomatoes (14.5 oz cans) or 1 large can (28 oz)
1 cup of whipping cream (half pint) OR 1 cup of coconut milk
1 tbsp coconut oil or olive oil
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced (or 2 heaping tsp prepared minced garlic)
1 onion, diced
zucchini, sliced
red/yellow/orange peppers, julienned
mushrooms, sliced (optional)
chicken breasts or tenders, cooked and diced (optional) - I usually poach them and then cut them into bite sized pieces
1 - 1 1/2 tsp basil
garlic powder/garlic salt, to taste
salt, to taste
shredded or Parmesan cheese

In saucepan, heat oil and cook garlic, onions and desired veggies until tender. Stir in the spaghetti sauce, tomatoes, whipping cream and basil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for approximately 20 mins, stirring occasionally. While the sauce is cooking, taste it and then add desired garlic powder/garlic salt and salt to taste (you'll need to add less because the canned spaghetti sauce already has salt added to it).

Serve with any kind of pasta with shredded cheese or Parmesan cheese on top.

*Note: If you're going to use canned spaghetti sauce, Hunt's spaghetti sauce in any variety is the best...I promise! You can also use 2 cans of tomato sauce (8 oz each) and a can of tomato paste (6 oz) and a little brown sugar instead of a can of spaghetti sauce. You'll just need to add a bit more salt, garlic powder, garlic salt, etc to give the sauce a little more flavour.

Ravioli Casserole
This sauce is delicious with ravioli (note: if you're making / using meat ravioli I wouldn't add the chicken to the sauce). To make a ravioli casserole, spray baking dish with PAM then put a little sauce on the bottom of the dish. Put the cooked ravioli in the dish and pour sauce over, stirring to make sure all the ravioli are covered with the sauce. Cover with shredded mozzarella/cheddar/jack cheese as well as parmesan cheese and cover with a lid or aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until bubbly. I usually take the foil off the last 10 minutes or so to brown the top. If necessary, use toothpicks to keep the foil off the cheese.

Enjoy!