Bless Her Heart

There are two foods that most people absolutely love, but that I can hardly stand.

These two foods are ice cream and spaghetti with any type of red sauce.

Ice cream…because it’s cold and hurts my teeth…give me Andy’s frozen custard anyday.

Spaghetti…when I was a kid, I was supposedly allergic to tomatoes. Now I hate any foods containing processed tomatoes, including ketchup.

I learned back when we lived in Germany that French fries taste better with mayo anyway…even better with Duke’s mayo.

Another reason that I probably hated spaghetti until recently: on those rare nights when we did have spaghetti, we never had anything other than boring spaghetti sauce from a jar.

When we first got married, I probably didn’t even know that you could make your own homemade spaghetti sauce. I assumed that all spaghetti sauce came in a jar and that all spaghetti sauce was boring.

The whole world changed after I learned that I could make my own delicious spaghetti sauce at home…a homemade spaghetti sauce that tastes SO much better than store-bought sauce…a homemade spaghetti sauce that is really simple and easy to make with ingredients I already have on hand anyway….a homemade spaghetti sauce with interesting flavors and an even better aroma.

Making homemade spaghetti sauce has now become part of our weekly routine.

And spaghetti night is finally one night that I can actually look forward to…and no longer have to dread.

The first thing that you must do when making your own spaghetti sauce?!

Decide if you want smooth or chunky…For a smooth sauce, buy crushed tomatoes. For a chunkier sauce, use whole tomatoes.

• 2Tbsp olive oil
• 1#  ground beef or Italian sausage
• 1 small green bell pepper, diced
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic,minced
• 2 28oz cans crushed or whole tomatoes
• 16oz tomato sauce
• 6oz tomato paste
• 1Tbsp salt
• 1tsp pepper
• 1Tbsp Italian seasoning
• 1Tblsp dried parsley
• 1Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1Tbsp sugar
• 1/3C grated Parmesan
• 16oz spaghetti noodles

Brown the Meat: Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add meat, bell pepper, onions and garlic to pan. Saute for about 10minm until all of the meat is brown. Drain excess grease. 

Add Tomatoes and Spices: Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, parsley, Worcestershire sauce and sugar.  Bring to a low boil. Reduce heat to low.

Simmer: Simmer 30min without the lid, Place the lid on. Simmer 30min longer, stirring often to make sure that the bottom doesn’t burn.

If you want your sauce to get even thicker, add a very small amount of cornstarch or a few spoonfuls of tomato paste. You could also increase the temperature and let the sauce boil for five minutes. After these five minutes, lower the temperature and simmer for at least 10 minutes.

Add the Cheese: Add the cheese. Simmer 5 minutes.

To make this in the crockpot: Combine everything but cheese and noodles in the crockpot. Cook on low for six hours. Before serving, add the cheese and then cook ten minutes longer.

To store: Store noodles and sauce separately. Noodles will last for up to five days in an airtight container in the fridge. The ground beef will stay good for four days. Reheat in the microwave or on the stove.

To freeze: LAllow the mixture to cool completely. Ladle spaghetti sauce into zip-top freezer bags in serving-sized portions…squeeze out any excess air, seal, label with the date, lay flat in the freezer…freeze for up to six months. To reheat, Thaw frozen spaghetti sauce in the fridge overnight. Reheat thawed sauce on the stove, stirring frequently.