Here's my mother's spaghetti sauce recipe...

[Rhiannon12866]

I just went to the trouble of digging it out, and posted in The Lounge, for my friend and fellow alumni, Bicentennial Baby, so I thought that I'd post it here, as well, since this has always been a hit with my family. I'd prefer just mushrooms, but my SO hates them and prefers the meat. I've made it often, so am including my variations. As a kid, this was the only spaghetti sauce that I ever knew existed...:-)

My mother's recipe for spaghetti meat sauce:

One large can whole Italian roma tomatoes, broken up, and a smaller can of diced tomatoes

One can tomato paste

1 1/2 lbs. hot Italian sausage, casing removed and broken up, or bought in bulk

1 3/4 lbs. ground beef. I use sirloin or the lowest fat kind I can find.

Two medium onions, chopped fine.

Two peppers, also chopped fine. Green are fine, but I often use a yellow one, my homage to the Iron Chef, LOL!

I add a few cloves of minced fresh garlic (three or four, depending on the size). My mother uses garlic salt.

I also add salt and ground pepper, and either fresh or dried basil and oregano, mostly basil, just a couple of handfuls thrown in, crushed, if it's dried. If it's fresh, add it at the end...

And, though my mother's recipe doesn't call for it, I often add a pound of sliced fresh mushrooms, white button or cremini, sauteed in olive oil and seasoned with salt, garlic salt, and cayenne pepper.

First, fry the sausage in a skillet until it's browned. Pour off any grease and then saute the ground beef in the same skillet. I usually add the onions and garlic to this, find it adds flavor.

I have also added a can of tomato sauce to the pot, often the seasoned kind (basil and oregano), since this is a pretty thick sauce.

Then I just add the entire melange to a large dutch oven or pot, on the stove, and heat it to boiling, then turn it down to simmer. Simmer for three hours, COVERED, stirring occasionally.

Serve over your favorite pasta. I prefer linguine. My mother likes thin spaghetti, as does my SO, but this is hearty enough to stand up to the larger pastas, like penne or rigatoni.

Enjoy!:9

Rhiannon:hi:

[bicentennial_baby]

1. Awwww

Thank you!!! Magnificent!! :9

[Rhiannon12866]

2. I know that you said tomatoes are out, but I replied to CaliforniaPeggy,

with a similar recipe to hers, and one that I've made often, so I figured that I's also post it here, while I had it in mind. Feel free to use it, if it helps, my friend. The only difficult thing about it is that the chopping can be a little labor-intensive, so you need a sharp knife. But all you have to do is add everything to the pot, cover it, and stir it occasionally. It really produces a wonderful aroma... My mother has reverted to adding the veggies in big pieces, so my Freeper brother can pick them out, but this doesn't much help the flavor and they don't cook down as they should. My SO loves this, if I cut things up small and cook it down. And he isn't big on veggies, either...:-)

[lavenderdiva]

3. this sounds absolutely delicious..

I'm going to give it a try next time I make spaghetti. Thank you for sharing!

We are still working on finishing off a big dish of manicotti I made a couple of days ago..

[Rhiannon12866]

4. You're more than welcome.

This was one of the constants that I had in my house, growing up, and one that my mother, not an enthusiastic cook, still makes. You can vary the ingredients, as I have, like adding the herbs and sauteed mushrooms, but it always turns out well. Everytime. :-)

And I love manicotti. I'm just happy with pasta, cheese and sauce. Do you use anything else, and what kind of cheese? I'd make it, but my SO said he didn't like it. I guess he wants a meat dish. I have made cannelloni, which I think is very similar... Maybe I should try that again next...:shrug:

[lavenderdiva]

5. for my manicotti, I use a recipe I found on Food Network...

from Giada deLaurentis link: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_26235,00.html

its called 'Beef & Cheese Manicotti'. Like yours, Mr. LD likes meat for dinner. This one has beef in the filling. Instead of parsley, I used about a cup of defrosted frozen spinach that I squeezed out real good, and then made sure it was in little pieces. This dish was absolutely delicious! Mr. LD even agreed!!! note: I added the garlic to the beef while I was cooking it, not in the cheeese mixture as the recipe suggests. I also put the filling into a large ziploc bag, made a small cut to one corner, and piped the filling into the pasta. It was much easier. It filled one package of manicotti shells exactly- approx. 14 manicotti tubes.

[Rhiannon12866]

6. I love her and often watch her show! Thanks so much! I can try this!

She's one of my favorites and watching the Food Network is one of my guilty pleasures, when I just get totally fed up with CNN. I like her, Rachael Ray and Tyler Florence the best, since I've learned the most from them. But both Rachael and Giada have been bashed on DU, Rachael, because they think she's too "perky," which she is, LOL, but I don't mind, I like her recipes, and they think that Giada's head is too big. My SO agrees... But I also like her recipes and like Tyler Florence, especially, since he can make anything...:D

BTW, Rachael Ray is my neighbor, here in Upstate NY. My friend cooked with her, at a demonstration that she gave, and my other friend sat next to her, last fall, at a restaurant, on her birthday... She kept sending her boyfriend out (I think she married him) to bring chicken that she ordered, especially for her dog, who was in her car...:-)

on edit: thanks for the tips. My SO will eat spinach, and I always look for tips from anyone who's made any recipe, before I attempt it. I receive them in e-mail... I would just be happy with the cheese, but this may make my meat-eater happy. *sigh* Thanks...:D

Rhiannon:hi: