Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Spaghetti, revisited

I made spaghetti for dinner about a week back, and since I had a little more time (and no jarred sauce), I decided to just make my own.  I don't follow a recipe, just add what I like.  Of course, years of making it has helped me know what I do and don't like.  So here's my version of homemade spaghetti sauce.


The first step is browning the meat.  I use 1 pound of 93/7 ground beef.  I also like to use local meat.  It's a little bit more expensive, but the taste is so much better!  While it's browning I add in half of a diced green bell pepper.  You would also add onion while it's browning, but I had mine already softened.  With the lean ground beef, I don't even have to drain it, so one extra step is cut out.  If it's any more fat than 93/7, I do drain it.
 During the summer we always get huge amounts of tomatoes, and this summer I roasted a whole bunch with onions, and froze them in quart size bags.  One quart size bag holds just enough tomatoes and onions to fit in the Magic Bullet, and is also just the right amount for my sauce.  If you don't have any frozen, I think two cans of tomatoes would probably work just fine.
 After I puree the tomatoes and onions in the Magic Bullet I dump it into the pot with the beef.  If it's looking too thick, I'll add a little bit of water.  I do like thick sauces, but hubby likes them a little thinner.  Do you know how hard it is to take pictures of things in stainless steel pans?  SO reflective!
 While that's starting to simmer I add my seasonings.  These three things are what I typically use.  Sea salt, pepper, and italian seasoning, all from Costco.  I add 1-2 tsp of the italian seasoning, and salt and pepper to taste.
About 10 minutes (not any longer) before I'm ready to serve, I add in half of a small yellow squash.  That way it's cooked, but not soggy.  I would add in more, since it's my favorite, but hubby doesn't like it, so I go easy on it.  He did actually eat it this time, but only because there wasn't much in there.  Here's my yummy gluten free meal.  Did I mention I'm eating gf again?  Well, I am.  My stomach was rebelling, and I'm feeling so much better now.  Mmm...corn pasta (our favorite), homemade sauce, and homemade garlic bread, using Udi's sandwich bread.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for....


Oh, man, I've been so neglectful of this poor blog.  But what can I say other than from Thanksgiving on we were jam packed busy!  So, hopefully now that kids are back in school, and life is slowing down a little bit (very little) I can do better about posting here.

Here's another fun time-saver I did for Natalie's birthday party.  I saw this idea on Pinterest, but can't find it for the life of me.  Maybe I didn't pin it?  Anyway, earlier in the day I pulled out the ice cream and pre-scooped it into paper baking cups.  The pink ones had strawberry cheesecake ice cream, and the blue had plain vanilla.  It seriously saved so much time, and I could hand each kid the ice cream flavor of their choice. Doing this again for sure!