Marinara sauce

Marinara sauce, spaghetti sauce, pasta sauce… what ever you want to call it frustrated me…  I think I went through every brand at the store and found only one that I actually enjoyed eating… only it was $5.50 a jar… and to feed the herd I have it makes dinner over $13.00… and to keep costs down I try and have dinner for 6 under $7.00… that’s not per serving that’s the whole meal… that’s a lot of beans.. a lot of pasta… and potatoes. So it was the cheap stuff… Aldi’s has a nice Marinara sauce but it is lacking in so many ways that after I doctor it up with spices and what not I might as well have made it from scratch…

So that is what I have been doing… Gone is the too sweet jar of sauce… gone is the off taste that you have to mask with ½ cup of garlic… gone is the instant dinner.

The longer you cook this the better it tastes… I try and give myself at least 3 hours of simmering time so the flavors can blend together  while I get the house in order in the evening…

I always keep a few bulbs of garlic and tomato puree around

I usually use a whole onion and a whole bulb of garlic .. adjust to your taste… if you have some dice up some zucchini and/or summer squash at this point and sauté along with the onions and garlic.

Onions sizzling away

Add the garlic

Add your tomato puree (2- 28 oz cans)

Then add 4 cups of water

Tablespoon of oregano

Tablespoon of basil, two teaspoon of salt and one tablespoon of salt

Let simmer for at least 3 hours stirring once in a while

Print Recipe

Recipe:

2- 28 ounce cans of tomato puree

One onion chopped

One bulb of garlic minced

3 tablespoons of oil

4 cups of water

One tablespoon of oregano

One tablespoon of sugar

One tablespoon of basil

2 teaspoons of salt

Sauté over med-high onions and garlic till onions are translucent, add tomato puree and water, add spices and stir well… lower heat to low and simmer for 3 hours stirring periodically.