Spaghetti Sauce

Today I would like to share with you our recipe for Spaghetti Sauce. Jacob and I always make spaghetti sauce from scratch. We very rarely use a store bought bottled sauce. We came up with this recipe together and sometimes we add this or that for variety depending on our mood or what we have in the fridge.

2 Tb. Olive Oil
1/2 Med. Onion, Chopped
3 Cloves Garlic, Minced
1 Quart Diced Tomatoes
1 Small (4 oz.) Can Tomato Sauce
1 tsp. dried Thyme
1 tsp. dried Basil
2 tsp. Salt
Pepper to taste
Tomato Paste - if needed to thicken
Other options to add: 1/2 to 1 lb. browned ground beef, turkey, pork, or Italian sausage, mushrooms, green pepper, or other veggies. 

Heat oil in saucepan and add onion and garlic, saute' until tender. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, and spices. Bring to boil and then reduce heat to simmer. Simmer for at least 1/2 hour or longer, until sauce reaches desired thickness.



When our garden was busting at the seams with tomatoes I made this batch of sauce with all these amazing fresh ingredients.

Chopped onion from the garden. And of course garlic, lots of fresh garlic.

Tons of fresh basil and tomatoes from the garden.
Instead of using a can of tomato sauce I just pureed up some of the tomatoes.

When I make fresh sauce from the garden I just chop up my tomatoes skins and all.  I don't bother to remove the skins because I don't mind the skin in my sauce this way.  I do however, remove the skins when I bottle tomatoes because the skins tend to become tough over time.

I also added some salt, pepper, and dried thyme to the sauce.

I added a couple of jars of baby veggies to my sauce (tricky, tricky, huh!). They helped to thicken my sauce and added some great veggie power. Jacob hates peas and he didn't even know they were in the sauce!

I didn't buy these with the intention of using them for this purpose (they are way too expensive), I just had a bunch leftover from when my 10 month old decided baby food was no longer for her. You could apply the same idea by simply taking some steamed veggies and pureeing them. This is a great way to get more veggies into little tummies. 

I then added about 1/2 pound of browned ground beef to my sauce and let it simmer for about 45 minutes. 

Yum! It turned out delicious! Spaghetti is always a hit at our house and it tastes even better with homemade sauce made with the freshest of ingredients.