Freezer Spaghetti Sauce

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Lunch today. And another spaghetti sauce recipe. Repetitive, I know, but mainly, this picture was too pretty not to post.

The sauce is from home-grown tomatoes, I made and froze it last summer - super easy and super quick way to use up extra tomatoes. (Especially easy if you have a crock-pot/slow-cooker).

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Handy to know as we start into gardening season once again, right? And you're all putting in a couple tomato plants, right? They grow on the tiniest patio space, you'll be amazed.

And the sauce? It's still fresh and tasty 9 months later - YUM! I served it with Trader Joe's Whole Wheat Angel Hair pasta which is really light and doesn't taste "whole-wheat-ish" at all, homemade garlic bread and some cute little grilled zucchini.

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Freezer Spaghetti Sauce

2 onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup good olive oil
8 cups chopped tomatoes (remove skins by blanching in boiling water for a few seconds)
1 Tbsp. oregano
2 Tbsp fresh basil
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
2 Tbsp sugar or agave
2 tsp. salt or to taste
1/2 tsp cracked pepper
pinch of cayenne
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
Put onion, garlic and olive oil in pan. Cook on low until onion is transparent, this takes a while but any higher and you'll burn the garlic - you want them to cook together. You can add bell peppers too, I don't care for the texture when frozen though.
In large pot (here's where I use my crockpot!!) add the chopped tomatoes, oregano, basil, parsley, sugar, salt, pepper and tomato paste. Cook down for 2-3 hours on low heat stirring frequently if on the stove; if in a crock-pot, cook about 4 hours, and just stir once or twice. I "taste-test" several times during cooking and usually add more seasonings. I then blend with an immersion blender, 'cause my kids don't like "chunks" in their sauce, but it's great as is too...

Let sauce cool. Pour into quart size containers or freezer bags. Store in your freezer about 9 months to a year, supposedly the quality deteriorates after that, but I never have any left anyway.
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Hope you're all having a great weekend, and Happy Mother's Day to all my fellow Blogger-Moms.

Not-Quite-Raw Spaghetti and Sauce

I'm definitely not "going raw" on you here, but the zucchini "noodles" that raw foodies use in place of traditional cooked pasta have always interested me.
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And oddly enough, I've owned a spiral slicer since, like, forever - because I'm a kitchen-gadget-nerd like that: (evidently spiral slicers are a raw-kitchen necessity, and important for making super-skinny noodle-type slices of zucchini ...which look a lot like worms, ...but I digress...)

So tonight when faced with the dilemma (MAJOR crisis!!!) of not-quite-enough spaghetti for the hungry natives, plus a wealth of zucchini and some grape tomatoes, I decided to give this raw "noodle" thing a try... This is NOT a "raw" recipe because I did use cooked pasta as well, but it was definitely a fun experiment with tasty results.
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First:
I cooked the bit of pasta I had, and while that was cooking, I shredded (or sliced?) the zuchinni into long, spiraling "noodles". I ended up with a ratio of about 2/3rds raw zucchini and 1/3 cooked pasta.
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Next:
After I drained the cooked pasta, I tossed the zucchini with it and drizzled with a little olive oil. Yes, I suppose the heat from the pasta "cooked" the zucchini somewhat.
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Then:
I topped everything with the following "raw" tomato sauce which I've actually made many times before. The sauce is amazing on hot summer days when you don't want to heat up the kitchen!! I admit my tiny grape tomatoes weren't garden-fresh, but they had a nice flavor anyway.
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Uncooked Tomato Sauce

1 clove garlic, peeled
2 pounds fresh garden-grown tomatoes (strong, sweet ones work best - cherry, grape, yellow, roma, whatever you have)
1/4 cup sundried tomatoes
2(ish) packed Tablespoons fresh basil leaves, rosemary, parsley, whatever you like
3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Blend all of the above in a food processor until smooth.
Add red pepper flakes and a splash of red-wine vinegar to taste if you like.... Pour over pasta of your choice. Enjoy!!

Have a great weekend, enjoy the sunshine (if any shines in your part of the world - lots of "liquid sunshine" here!!).

I Have Crazy Children.

I do, I have crazy Sprout children. Of course I love them to death in spite (or because) of their craziness, but they keep me on my toes never knowing what to expect next.

I present the following evidence.
My Middle Sprout's latest and most favorite Panini Sandwich invention:

The Grilled Spaghetti-Garlic-Bread-Sandwich

(I told her I was going to blog about it and she didn't believe me. It's really pretty good, and if nothing else, it's a rather original use for leftovers.)


Should you choose to try this, here's what you do:

• 2 slices hearty French or Sourdough bread
• 2 tsp vegan margarine
• 1 clove pressed garlic
• 1/2 cup cooked spaghetti or angel hair, chopped up - aprox 1 inch pcs.
• 1 Tbsp. sauce
• 1 Tbsp olives, chopped
• 1-2 slices "meltable" vegan cheese slices

Mix pressed garlic with margarine. Spread thinly on bread.
Mix sauce into spaghetti. Stir in olives.
Crumble the cheese and mush it around into the spaghetti.
Lay 1 slice bread on heated Panini Grill, buttered side down.
Heap spaghetti mixture onto bread and spread evenly to edges.
Lay remaining bread slice on top, buttered side up.

Grill until sandwich is toasty and cheese is melty.
Dip in additional sauce if you want. YUMMMMMM

Have a great week.