Skip to main content

Spaghetti Spaghetti Spaghetti...





                                              Spaghetti  Spaghetti  Spaghetti...

My mission today is to enhance a jar of spaghetti sauce.
I 've been wanting spaghetti with meat sauce, but didn't have time to make a scratch sauce on a work night. It's a very simple throw your favorite flavors in the pot kind of sauce. Most regular jar sauces are thin so I like to add tomato paste or stewed tomatoes, then I pour on the beef for a rich, meaty, sauce.
                         This recipe fed 6 empty stomachs easily. 

Ingredients
  • 45 oz jar spaghetti sauce ( I used Ragu old world style)
  • salt (to taste)
  • pepper (to taste)
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp basil
  • 1 tsp brown sugar
  • 1 tsp tomato paste
  • 1 small green pepper
  • 1/8 cup diced white onion
  • 2 lbs ground beef (I used 85/15)
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp parmesan cheese

Pour jar sauce into a pot. Cover and turn heat on very low to begin warming. Add olive oil to a skillet. Add diced green pepper, sauté for 1 minute, then add diced onion. Sauté vegetables till onions are translucent. Add vegetables to sauce. Add basil and brown sugar stir and continue to simmer on low. Check seasoning while stirring periodically.

Add ground beef to the same skillet. Add a pinch of salt  and  pepper, onion and garlic powder. Brown beef, then stir into sauce. Add tomato paste into sauce to thicken. Let simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in parmesan cheese. Reduce heat. Continue simmering sauce for 15 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent sticking to the bottom of the pot. Check seasoning. Salt to taste.

Pour sauce over hot Al dente spaghetti, add homemade garlic bread, and a tossed green salad and you have a delicious satisfying dinner that tastes like you spent all day cooking it, but you didn't. :)

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Pancakes With Crunchy Edges are Life...

Who doesn't enjoy a pancake with a crisp edge?  You know... the crispiness that only  your mom or grandma could achieve. When I saw this meme on the internet, I laughed out loud because it's something my sister Stacey and I talk about all the time. We would go to diners and restaurants and request pancakes with crunchy edges. The waitress would say okay...but return with regular ol' pancakes with soft edges.  I gave up.  I decided if I wanted pancakes like this,  I would just make them at home.  When looking at the meme's comments, I noticed that most people stated that only their parents or grandparents  could achieve this crunchy goodness.  Quite a few of the comments in the meme questioned  how to achieve pancakes with crunchy edges?  I chime in with  "It's really not hard to achieve." All you have to do is add a few drops of cooking oil around the sides of your pancakes while cooking them.  It can be vegetable oil, butter, or bacon
Read more

Shaken Baken Stuffed Peppers

So the recipe for my version of Stuffed Red Peppers comes from at least a dozen versions found on the internet. My whole approach was to get as much flavor out of these babies as possible. Most recipes called for rice, meat usually beef or turkey, and cheese for those who like it. I like all of these things so I incorporated them into my recipe. I also have family members that either don’t eat beef or don’t eat turkey (oy!) so I did both. I do have a lot of ingredients but the flavors came out really good! This recipe makes about 10 bell peppers. I wanted to try the peppers first in case it tasted funky...  I can assure you it didn’t.  There was a lot of meat leftover so I used it for 5 prepared meal packages for the week. My only issue was timing. As you can see they are a little well done so I will make sure to adjust my cooking time next time. Every recipe I found had a different temperature and cooking time so I was winging it for real….So without further adieu here is my
Read more

My Love For The Cosi Signature Salad

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of having a Cosi Signature salad, then I'm sure you will agree with me, as it is my favorite salad with a dressing you can drink. (kidding) I miss living in the big city so I have to improvise. And with a huge thanks to  The Brown Eyed Baker  ,  I was able to recreate it down to that awesome drinkable dressing.  This is the first salad I’ve eaten with fruit in it. It has pistachios, red grapes, gorgonzola cheese, pears, and dried cranberries. I added leftover cooked chicken because I was starving and I didn’t want to be hungry later. My hubby sliced up a boiled egg in his. No egg for me. I had one already this afternoon. The chicken was a great companion to the fresh fruit.                                         *Note: The Original Cosi salad does not have chicken or eggs.                             e is the official recipe courtesy of The Bro Eyed Baker. She did a great job replicating that dressing. Oh that dressing….ENJOY!!
Read more