by Elizabeth Scholes
I realized I was out of spaghetti sauce for a recipe I was making, and rather than run to the store, I made my own thanks to a friend’s recipe. It was so good and so economical, I may never buy store bought again. For roughly $6 of ingredients and a trip to my garden, I made the equivalant of 4 jars of sauce that are not only delicious but free from preservatives and other unknown junk.
Here’s the recipe:
Sauce:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 green pepper, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 pound fresh mushrooms, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound ground beef
1 pound Italian sausage
1 quart Italian plum tomatoes (I used whole tomatoes)
2 cans (4 ounces each) tomato paste
2 tablespoons parsley or to taste
1 teaspoon oregano or to taste
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
Directions:
Sauté pepper, onion, mushrooms and garlic in olive oil until tender.
In a separate pan, cook meat until cooked through, drain.
Combine vegetables and meat. Add tomatoes and spices. Simmer 2 hours, but after about an hour, mash tomatoes with a potato masher. Freezes well.
I doubled this recipe and got about 11 cups, which I divided into 4 batches.
