Dinner 3/30/09 Spaghetti and meatballs (OAMC) includes a recipe

We end up having spaghetti - with or without meatballs at least every 10 days or so. It's one of my husband's favorites and it is easy for me to make in bulk - so I am okay with it.

To make the sauce -

I normally end up getting tomato sauce for really cheap or free - or sometimes the store pays me to take it, depends on what sales are going on - every 2 months or so. I stock up for Pasta sauce day. If for some reason I do not get enough free sauce, I go to Sam's club and buy that huge tub of Hunt's sauce for like $3 - and there we have our base.

Sooooo....

about 4 28oz cans - or one sams club can of tomato sauce (you can always do more if you have a cooking vessel large enough to hold it all!)

1 can of tomato paste (the 15 oz or similar size) if you like a little extra flavor

salt and pepper to taste

a table spoon or two of italian seasoning mix - I really like the Spice house, you can order online if there is not one near you.

1 chopped onion

3 cloves to one head of minced garlic, depending on your family's taste

2 -3 tbsp sugar to taste (can be omitted if you like a tangier sauce)

Start by softening the onions in a little EVOO or butter over medium heat and then add the garlic and cook for a few minutes. Don't brown the garlic, it will start to taste bitter if you do. Then, add all of the rest of the ingredients and simmer on low for a couple of hours, or let it sit in a crock pot on low all day. You can also add some browned ground beef or italian sausage if your family likes.

When the sauce is done, I normally take some for dinner that night - since I already did the cooking ;) And then let the rest cool and put it in freezer bags (1 qt size works for us - we will have enough for a dinner and then leftovers for hubby to take to work the next day) and freeze them laying down - you can stand them up later to save room in the freezer. This size batch will normally yeild us 5 or 6 bags of sauce, in addition to the portion that I took out of the pot. Then, when we want pasta again, dinner consists of laying a bag of sauce in the fridge to thaw, and then heating it in a pot later while the pasta cooks - combine, (or put on top of the pasta, however you like) and top with fresh grated parmasan cheese.

This goes nicely with our OAMC garlic bread.... but that is another post ;)