I finally tried Home Grown Spaghetti Sauce

Why did I think it was going to be harder than this? Was it years of ready-made spaghetti sauce commercials complaining about how it takes all day for grandma to cook her famous sauce?

And what about flavor? Could I really accomplish something tasty that compared to companies who’ve sold batch upon batch of sauce across the country? (I am not saying they’re good. I am saying they’re successful.)

In the past, I didn’t doubt my abilities...

 Preserve and can food… check. Grow a garden… check. Homeschool my children… got it. Maintain a house made out of a shipping container… no problem. But I didn’t think I was capable of making a good spaghetti sauce? Seriously?

Perhaps it really was the lack of a bumper crop of tomatoes until this year.

This summer, we’ve had more tomatoes than I was really prepared for. My 2013 garden tomato goals were to grow enough so that…

We wouldn’t have to buy any tomatoes for salads all summer.

We wouldn’t have to buy any salsa all summer.

We wouldn’t have to buy any canned, diced, stewed, and/or green-chili-style tomatoes all summer.

We would have PLENTY to give away all summer!

I’d say we’ve attained these goals quite well this season and really for the first time ever as a gardening family. We hit the sweet spot on the right number of tomato plants for our needs right now.

Here’s how I fearlessly made that spaghetti sauce:

I started with…

• About 25 lbs tomatoes
• 4-5 sweet or bell peppers
• 2 gigantic onions
• About 7 cloves garlic
• Oil for sautéing
• One generous handful each of fresh basil and thyme
• Salt, pepper, and/or sugar or sweetener to taste. (The sweeter AND saltier it is, the more it will resemble store sauce!)

Peel tomatoes easily by cutting a little “X” on the tops of each one and dropping in boiling water for one minute. Transfer tomatoes to a cool bath and remove to cool to the touch. Hold tomatoes firmly by the skins and squeeze so that your tomato slips out of its skin through the “X.”

After a quick bath, these guys just slip out of their skins.

Remove inner juices and seeds by further squeezing tomatoes in your hand until they are drained, or by using a spoon to scoop out the goo.

(I actually cut my “X” pretty deep on each tomato and was able to stick my fingers inside and slide out the goo that way!)

Chop up and start cooking-down tomatoes on a low heat while preparing other ingredients.

Peel and finely chop garlic, dice onion and peppers and sauté in oil until slightly translucent.

Add sautéed vegetables to tomatoes and add salt pepper and/or sugar at this time.

Cook on low, uncovered, for about an hour or maybe even two until tomatoes break down and the liquid reduces just a bit.

Add chopped basil and thyme just before turning off heat. Serve over pasta, chicken, or in a lasagna (this was especially delicious!)

Don’t faint if you are a recipe-follower and not an improvising type of cook. You can find hundreds of grandma-tested sauce recipes (with EXACT measurements) on the internet!!!  This is merely a guideline of how I made mine.

And oh how tasty and truly easy it was. I am glad I stepped out of my comfort zone.

Made homemade spaghetti sauce… check.

Expecting a finished sauce pic? It got eaten. Here's my son doing his favorite thing... rummaging through the cabinets.