Sunday, July 22, 2012

Weekend Cooking - Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

Can you believe this is the first time I have ever participated in Weekend Cooking? I can! I don't really do a lot of fancy cooking and never really think I have anything to contribute. Well, this weekend I have decided to share my favourite recipe. I really like pasta and have always enjoyed it was homemade spaghetti sauce. One day I would like to make it even more by scratch, but first I need a garden and a bigger kitchen.

The Ingredients:

3-4 small onions (I tend to use one large one)
3 cloves of garlic (optional)
1 green pepper (or red, yellow, orange, etc.)
1-2 pounds of hamburger (I have done both. The guy prefers 2.)
mushrooms
2 smalls cans tomato paste (I buy 1 of the bigger size.)
2 cans tomato sauce (I buy 1 of the bigger size.)
2 cans whole tomatoes (I actually only use 1 can of diced tomatoes. Sadly someone isn't a huge fan.)
salt & pepper
onion salt
Italian spice
chilli spice (I only use this one, but I have made it with the others.)

The recipe is pretty easy to be flexible. There is only two of us so I try to make enough to have a couple meals and some to freeze without going crazy. My mother also uses a spoonful of sugar because she finds the tomatoes bitter. I don't, so I don't usually. It might be because she uses whole tomatoes and I always use diced ones.


Sauté onions, garlic, and green peppers. Add hamburger and mushrooms. Cook until hamburger is done. Add all other ingredients and mix together. Add spices to your taste. Simmer on low heat with cover on for 1-2 hours. Stir occasionally.  (I actually put the meat in first because it is the thing that actually needs to be cooked. Sometimes it is still partly frozen, too. And then once it starts cooking I throw in all the veggies.)

Serve with pasta (and cheese) and enjoy! The guy actually likes this white cheddar and pasta stuff that they sell at the grocery store as his pasta of choice for the sauce.

Also, remember to look at pictures so you can take a better one if necessary... Sorry!
Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads.

17 comments:

  1. I've only made tomato sauce 'from scratch' once, and it was delicious. I shall have to try (and modify) your recipe. Thanks for sharing!

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  2. I have never tried making tomato sauce like this, only tomato soup (which, evidently, is something different). I'd not have thought using tomato paste, sauce and fresh tomatoes. Will give it a try soon. Thanks for sharing your recipe.

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  3. Looks delicious! I love making homemade spaghetti sauce!! Love the smell of it cooking all day :D I just HATE mushrooms so I never put them in it :p

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  4. Welcome to Weekend Cooking! I too love making spaghetti sauce. Especially when I can make a big batch so I have some for the freezer. I'm a mushroom fan, so I usually add them. And garlic is definitely *not* optional. LOL.

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  5. Great work on the sauce. Hope you enjoyed my post about Coronation chicken

    Cheers

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  6. Yay! You joined in on Weekend Cooking!

    I must confess that I am not someone who makes pasta sauce from scratch, mainly because when I am having pasta for dinner it is because I want something quick and easy. This does look tasty.

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  7. I have not successfully made my own spaghetti but I should try your recipe. Welcome to Weekend Cooking!

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  8. I make this a lot and store it in the freezer for future use. Yours looks excellent.

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  9. I love homemade tomato sauce - so much so that I just can't eat the stuff that comes in jars. This looks like a great recipe.

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  10. I love homemade spaghetti sauce because you can tweak it any way you want. Yours looks delicious!

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  11. I make my own home-made spaghetti sauce too and this looks delicious.

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  12. Looks delicious. I never thought to add mushrooms, great idea!

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  13. DELICIOUS!!! I've recently started making HUGE batches of spaghetti sauce in the crockpot and freezing most of it. I do add a bit of sugar but not sure it makes a lot of difference and also add Italian sausage in addition to hamburger to give it a bit of heat. Otherwise our recipes look fairly similar. Yummmmm!

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  14. I love spaghetti and sauce, but don't make homemade sauce usually. This recipe sounds delicious though. Maybe I'll give it a try.

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  15. Sounds yummy! Welcome to Weekend Cooking -- I love when we share dishes that really work in our kitchens. I add honey to my spaghetti sauce and ours is vegetarian because my husband is allergic to red meat. I always put oregano in mine because it reminds me of an old Andy Griffith episode where he is served spaghetti with a "secret" ingredient something like three times in one night and oregano is the secret ingredient. It makes me giggle.

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  16. I love making my own sauce...now I am hungry!!

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  17. Delicious! Mom always put sugar in her homemade sauce too. I put sugar on my tomato slices. Cuts the acid. Nothing says lovin' like a plate of pasta! Welcome to weekend cooking!

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