basic spaghetti sauce
Hide the veggies!!!!
2015 is a year I plan to do MORE cooking and buying less premade.
I think one of the basics I need to master is spaghetti sauce as that is one of John's favourite meals AND not something he can have in the truck during the week. Although it is easy enough to get at any truck stop diner, watered down sauce and overcooked pasta is JUST not the same.
SO what can I do differently.
John loves my cooking. I am not a bad cook, but have become supremely lazy in past years.
This was today's sauce:
1 can of tomatoes diced (now when veggies are plentiful and inexpensive these will be fresh) $0.99
1 bunch of green onions (I like the colour -chunkily chopped) $0.79
2 regular onions (chunkily chopped) $0.50
1/2 of a bunch of celery (chunkily chopped) $1
1 green pepper (chunkily chopped) $1
1/2+ cup of parmesan or romano cheese $1
generous amount of your favourite Italian seasonings
2 tsp garlic
2 cups of water
subtotal $4.28
**** and whatever veggies you want to hide. like spinach, cauliflower, zucchini, mushrooms
In a VERY large pot (do not think it will work in a smaller pot!) I took all these items and brought them to a boil and let them simmer for 30 minutes covered. The smell through the house was amazing!! Ask Anne who stopped by.
I used an immersion blender, but a food processor will work too (ensure your mixture is cool enough before using a food processor though!). I then ground up all the boiled items.
I think getting used to the colour of natural foods will take some getting used to!
This mixture will be a thick kind of pink colour.
At this point I added 1 XL jar of PC tomato sauce. ($3.99)
fill with water and rinse and add to sauce.
Mix very well and the sauce will come back to a more recognizable red colour.
subtotal $9.27
I decided to add meatballs! $10 (PC bag divided nicely in there are between 70 and 100)
Fried ground beef, pork or turkey would work too at the same price.
subtotal $19.27
This sauce is VERY thick.
I prefer a slightly thinner sauce so I added
1 tetra container of tomatoéveggie juice cocktail $0.99
*** It is at this point I would add mushrooms if desired.
subtotal $20.26
At this point there are 4-6 or more family dinner size portions
(depending on how many people you serve)
The sauce is now ready to be put in containers.
Take out appropriate sized tupperware bowls,
**You decide how you want to store yours: tupperware, ziploc bags, jars.
and place meatballs in each bowl and cover with the sauce.
The jar from the sauce I used, I refilled for storing with no meat.
The last serving I added meatballs and left in the pot for supper tonight!
That took less than an hour and I prepped 6 large meals!
The sauce is really yummy and healthier than just a can of spaghetti sauce.
Next time I will remember the spinach for mine!
So I got 6 meals. $20.26 divided by 6 = $3.37
That is the same price as the classico sauce except mine has less preservatives,
more veggies and meatballs too!!!!!!!!!
`Bon Appetit!`
2015 is a year I plan to do MORE cooking and buying less premade.
I think one of the basics I need to master is spaghetti sauce as that is one of John's favourite meals AND not something he can have in the truck during the week. Although it is easy enough to get at any truck stop diner, watered down sauce and overcooked pasta is JUST not the same.
SO what can I do differently.
John loves my cooking. I am not a bad cook, but have become supremely lazy in past years.
This was today's sauce:
1 can of tomatoes diced (now when veggies are plentiful and inexpensive these will be fresh) $0.99
1 bunch of green onions (I like the colour -chunkily chopped) $0.79
2 regular onions (chunkily chopped) $0.50
1/2 of a bunch of celery (chunkily chopped) $1
1 green pepper (chunkily chopped) $1
1/2+ cup of parmesan or romano cheese $1
generous amount of your favourite Italian seasonings
2 tsp garlic
2 cups of water
subtotal $4.28
**** and whatever veggies you want to hide. like spinach, cauliflower, zucchini, mushrooms
In a VERY large pot (do not think it will work in a smaller pot!) I took all these items and brought them to a boil and let them simmer for 30 minutes covered. The smell through the house was amazing!! Ask Anne who stopped by.
I used an immersion blender, but a food processor will work too (ensure your mixture is cool enough before using a food processor though!). I then ground up all the boiled items.
I think getting used to the colour of natural foods will take some getting used to!
This mixture will be a thick kind of pink colour.
At this point I added 1 XL jar of PC tomato sauce. ($3.99)
fill with water and rinse and add to sauce.
Mix very well and the sauce will come back to a more recognizable red colour.
subtotal $9.27
I decided to add meatballs! $10 (PC bag divided nicely in there are between 70 and 100)
Fried ground beef, pork or turkey would work too at the same price.
subtotal $19.27
This sauce is VERY thick.
I prefer a slightly thinner sauce so I added
1 tetra container of tomatoéveggie juice cocktail $0.99
*** It is at this point I would add mushrooms if desired.
subtotal $20.26
At this point there are 4-6 or more family dinner size portions
(depending on how many people you serve)
The sauce is now ready to be put in containers.
Take out appropriate sized tupperware bowls,
**You decide how you want to store yours: tupperware, ziploc bags, jars.
and place meatballs in each bowl and cover with the sauce.
The jar from the sauce I used, I refilled for storing with no meat.
The last serving I added meatballs and left in the pot for supper tonight!
That took less than an hour and I prepped 6 large meals!
The sauce is really yummy and healthier than just a can of spaghetti sauce.
Next time I will remember the spinach for mine!
So I got 6 meals. $20.26 divided by 6 = $3.37
That is the same price as the classico sauce except mine has less preservatives,
more veggies and meatballs too!!!!!!!!!
`Bon Appetit!`
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