Tasty Tuesday: Homemade Spaghetti Sauce and an Invite

Who's hungry? It's Tasty Tuesday over at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam. Please visit Jen today to find more delicious meal ideas!


It's a bumper crop!

The three tiny tomato plants I purchased back at the end of May have exploded with tomatoes! The large mixing bowl you see in the photo is from just a few days worth of harvests. There are probably 20 to 30 Roma tomatoes and 1 very round beefeater tomato (I hate that name!) in there.

What to do, what to do?

Spaghetti sauce was the first thing that came to mind, and I found a recipe on allrecipes.com that had plenty of good reviews. You don't have to have a garden to make your own spaghetti sauce. Visit your local farmer's market, or even the produce aisle at your favorite grocery store. Making it at home is bound to be healthier than popping open a can of Prego, which is loaded with sugar.

Homemade Tomato Sauce

from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
10 ripe tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 cup Burgundy wine
1 bay leaf
2 stalks celery
2 tablespoons tomato paste

Directions:
1. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Have ready a large bowl of iced water. Plunge whole tomatoes in boiling water until skin starts to peel, 1 minute. Remove with slotted spoon and place in ice bath. Let rest until cool enough to handle, then remove peel and squeeze out seeds. Chop 8 tomatoes and puree in blender or food processor. Chop remaining two tomatoes and set aside.

2. In a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, cook onion, bell pepper, carrot and garlic in oil and butter until onion starts to soften, 5 minutes. Pour in pureed tomatoes. Stir in chopped tomato, basil, Italian seasoning and wine. Place bay leaf and whole celery stalks in pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 2 hours. Stir in tomato paste and simmer an additional 2 hours. Discard bay leaf and celery and serve.

Note: I also love to use Rosemary. A few of the users on allrecipes.com suggested letting it simmer uncovered for 2 hours to thicken it up. I'd also add ground beef because my husband likes it that way. You can freeze the extra servings, or make extra to freeze for later!

{Bon Appetit!}

On another note:




(Click on the photo above for details about the party!)

I'll post the Decorating Dilemmas Party tonight (Tuesday) around 10 pm (ET) and we can party all day on Wednesday! I've never used McLinky or Mr. Linky before, but we'll give it a shot. Please be sure to grab my button on the sidebar.

So take a quick stroll through your home and I bet you can find one little (or big) project you'd love to have some feedback on. Even if it's just me, Xazmin, and my sister, I know we'll have a blast!

~Don't forget that there is a Giveaway for participants!~ Check the link out to see what you might score just by asking some bloggy friends for some help.