easy homemade spaghetti sauce
One of my goals this year is to make as many things from scratch as I can, and I seem to speeding right along with it. So far I’ve conquered bagels, ricotta, yogurt, tortillas, refried beans, and cupcakes (among others that I have probably forgotten at the moment). I’m finding more and more that it’s much more satisfying to make things myself, and to know what’s in everything I’m serving to my family. All that being said, though, I’ve never been all that interested in making my own spaghetti sauce. My mom always made her own spaghetti sauce when I was growing up (a few cans of plain tomato sauce with a little garlic and italian seasoning thrown in) and as a consequence, I hated spaghetti for years. (I should add at this point that my mom is a great cook and has since improved her spaghetti technique). When I married Geoff and discovered the wonders of jarred spaghetti sauce (texture AND flavor? what?) I was pretty determined to just keep using that forever. I’ve made sauce from scratch a few times, but it never seemed worth the effort and the hours spent simmering.
And then yesterday I was all set to make lasagna in the crockpot, and realized that I didn’t have any spaghetti sauce in the house. And since I was getting over a sinus infection, trying to wrangle two energetic little girls, and still wearing my pajamas, going to the store was out. I came up with this quick and easy sauce, using what I already had, and it was incredibly delicious. Abby and I had it on some linguine noodles for lunch, and the lasagna we had for dinner was amazing. Yum! I think this recipe might be enough to convince me to make my own spaghetti sauce from here on out.
Spaghetti Sauce
1 lb. ground meat (I used turkey, as usual)
1 medium onion
1-2 T fresh crushed garlic
2 14 oz cans diced tomatoes
1/2 6 oz can tomato paste
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder (my fresh garlic wasn’t flavorful enough on its own)
1 tsp. dried basil
1 T sugar (more or less to taste)
pepper to taste
Brown ground meat with onion and garlic, then add tomatoes, tomato paste, and seasonings. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and let simmer 20-30 minutes, or until sauce has thickened slightly. Check seasonings and adjust as desired.
