Kitchen

[Jordan2]

Let me first state that I use to be a pretty good cook and baker, I enjoyed it. I always thought if you could read you could follow a recipe. It got to the point where I was getting taken for granted and I never received any compliments, so I more or less stoppped. Anyway I usually eat my pasta with jarred sauce. I thought why not make your own. I bought some crushed canned tomatoes with puree, diced some onions and garlic,a little bit of sugar,and addded oregano and basil seasoning.It was delicious, so much better than the jar sauce. It was so easy too! I know some of you will think big deal but it was one to me!

[chickenbutt]

Great! It is better to make it yourself, isn't it? It's very satisfying to make a lovely dish out of fresh ingredients. If you are feeding others, they will love it, too.

What I do, since I'm doing all that work anyway, is to get out one of my bigger Le Creuset pots and make a HUGE batch. Then, after it has cooled, I break it down into portion sizes (one or two servings, or however many applies to a given situation) and put them into Lock & Lock containers. Freeze them. Then pop them out and vacuum seal each one. That way I have sauce all year long, since it stores perfectly pristinely for ages since it's vacuum sealed.

All you need to do is open one up, into a pot to simmer until hot, cook some pasta, and grate some cheese, and you have a meal. Or, you can boil-in-bag it.

I make mine with meat, though - I use half hot and half sweet Italian sausage.

[Toppers]

Sounds great, Jordan. I used to make my own sauce, too. Why not be proud of yourself? It does take time and effort to do it, and the results are great.

I just use jarred sauce now, but I add other things to it to "jazz it up" a bit. I will add additional meat to it, plus mushrooms and olives, too.

[blackhole99]

I started making my own sauce too, there's just to much sodium and ingredients I don't need in the jarred sauces.

[Salem]

How long do you cook your homemade sauce?

[Lorik62]

I started making my own sauce too because of my husband's high blood pressure. So much sodium in the jarred sauce. My husband thinks mine tastes best!!

[Jordan2]

Salem I simmered it over a low heat for about 25 minutes. I made a smaller batch and if you made a larger batch I would let it simmer for at least an hour. I would say you really can't mess it up!

[Gooday]

First of all jordan2 ~ good for you!

When I did make my sauce, I used a meat base such as Italian sausage. However, my DH and my immediate family loved it with lamb stew meat. I browned it with S&P and Italian seasoning, a few cloves of garlic and some crushed red pepper. After it got brown, I used diced tomatoes only. Turned the heat to medium or medium low. Stirred it often and after one hour, I turned it to simmer for another hour. When a slight grease formed on top, I knew it was done. I let it cooled and skimmed the top.

My mom was Sicilian so, pasta was a twice a week meal for us. She often used pork neckbones and then her homemade meatballs. We were also fashionable before restaurants started charging 15-17.00 a plate for pasta with oil, garlic and broccoli!

[lork]

I have always made my red sauce. . .with cooked ground beef, onion, garlic, home canned tomato sauce (tomatoes, onions, peppers), tomato paste, oregano, basil, a pinch of annise seed, salt & pepper. I'm always home, but I throw it all together in the slow cooker and cook on low for 4-6 hours. It smells heavenly (all day) and can be served over pasta or on top a pizza.

[Boehm Collector]

Both my parents were born and raised in Italy. As a result there was never any store bought pasta sauce in the house. Mom always made her own. I have continued the tradition. I make several different kinds of sauces. When I make them I make quite a bit and freeze it. IMHO no store bought pasta sauce is even close to being as good as my homemade sauces. Plus I know exactly what ingredients are in mine.