Corrected-This recipe works folks. My five guinea pigs were all pleased...and that's not easy to do! Here's the options: fresh tomatoes rather than stewed, they stew fine during the two hour+ cooking time. This last time, I used three large juicy red tomatoes, chopped (for those of you gardener-cooks, you will be pleased to note that yellow pear, sweet grape, and heirloom orange all work wonderfully; tomato paste 3-6 TBLS, 1-2 tsp. italian seasoning, + S&P work well instead of a spaghetti packet; 1/4 cup dried minced onion, and add 1/2 cup water or cola instead of fresh onions if there are none available in your pantry. However if you use fresh onion, chop them nice and small so they cook thoroughly...it's not very nice to chomp into rubbery onion; and I have found it best to use a non-stick dutch oven with a very low simmer(careful those of you with propane),unless you like a black-eyed pot roast! Your other option is of course the crock pot! 8-9 hours on low, 5-6 hours on high, no blackening required. For my LOW CARB cook mates: Count your spaghetti packet as carbs, or use the above tomato paste option; exchange the one cup regular cola with a splenda sweetened cola like Diet Rite, which keep the cola and sweet taste during the simmering. Neither Aspartame, nutrasweet,or equal will simmer. Enjoy

Made this the day before( because at the last minute we got a chance to go out to dinner!) A while before serving I took out meat and cut up and then put back in the sauce. I had also added some lonely carrots when I chopped other veggies for the sauce. There is no taste of spagetti sauce in the end.I also used spicy tomatoes (like Rotel). Boiled new potatoes and then smashed them with garlic and butter and served meat and gravy over them. My husband was in a swoon. He took it to work the next day for lunch and called me after he ate it to compliment me. In 31 years that has never happened before!

I only used this recipe because I had all the ingredients on hand, not because I thought it sounded good. My expectations were low, thinking it would taste like spaghetti flavored pot roast. Oh my goodness, was I ever wrong. This is a new family favorite and we eat it at least once a month with mashed potatoes and a salad. Picky eaters in our family approve as well. I cook mine in the crock pot on high for 4 or 5 hours.