I've been working for some time on creating a spaghetti sauce that I actually like. Something that puts all the store bought sauces to shame. Yesterday, I think I finally came up with one.

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Tim's Spaghetti Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 2 med. yellow onions, chopped
• 2 green bell peppers, chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 (14.5 oz.) cans stewed tomatoes
• 2 (14.5 oz.) cans crushed tomatoes
• 2 T. sugar
• 1 T. dried basil
• 1 t. dried oregano

Directions:

Brown the ground beef with the onions, bell peppers and garlic. Blend the stewed and crushed tomatoes together. Pour into beef mixture and reduce heat to simmer. Add sugar, basil and oregano. Simmer about an hour. (On my stove, it goes from Low (1) to High (10). I set it at 3 to simmer.)

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It comes out nice and thick. Thick enough that it stays on the pasta instead of soaking through the pasta.

In case you're wondering about the subject, I had a dentist appointment yesterday to fill a cavity. My lips were still a bit numb when I sat down to eat. And yes, I did chew my lip a bit. It was worth it.

This sounds great and for my family it would make enough to freeze some. My Mom made a very good sauce and I know she put some sugar in it. Maybe that is part of the secret to an excellent sauce.

I will try this also!  My husband likes alot of meat.  Do you think it will alter it too much if I put in 2 lbs. instead of 1?

Ronda: The recipe makes enough to feed me for several days. And, I'm a huge eater. I've considered making some ahead and freezing it. I just haven't gotten to that point as of yet. I suspect you're right about the sugar. The subtle sweetness goes really well with the rest of the sauce.

Norma: I'm not sure about putting 2 lbs. of ground beef in it rather than a single pound. It's already very, very thick. You could always try it and keep another can of stewed tomatoes on hand. Just in case it's too thick. As for me, I'm going to try a lot of different things. I might substitute some sausage for the ground beef. Or, some meatballs. And, I might add some mushrooms. Great thing about spaghetti sauce. It can be altered in so many ways.

that's awesome.  I made a recipe using fresh tomatoes, but needed one when tomatoes get to high to buy fresh.  It's amazing how having it simmer brings out the flavor so much. 

Fresh Tomato Spagetti Sauce

4-5 tomatoes blended in blender with just a littlte water (I would use some chunks next time)

1 package dry spagetti sauce mix

italian seasoning

garlic

pepper

simmer for a while (I didn't time it) and we ate it with meatballs which were just hamburger, corn meal, garlic and pepper