Tag: tomatoes

HOMEMADE SPAGHETTI SAUCE

Homemade spaghetti sauce doesn’t need to be complex or time-consuming to be delicious. You just need good, quality ingredients to make a sauce full of amazing flavor. This recipe is perfect for making large batches to feed a crowd or freezing for quick, easy meals later.

Spaghetti night is a favorite in our house. Everyone loves it and leaves the table satisfied and happy. It’s one of those meals that doesn’t need to be overly complex or time-consuming to be amazing!

For years, I thought homemade spaghetti sauce must be hard to make or at least hard to make really good. So I bought spaghetti sauce in a jar. It wasn’t bad; we enjoyed it. But I finally decided to develop my own recipe for homemade spaghetti sauce that was both easy and delicious. And here it is! I will never go back to spaghetti sauce in a jar again.

Best Tomatoes to Use:

The best spaghetti sauce is made using crushed San Marzano tomatoes. San Marzano is a variety of plum tomatoes with a more robust flavor and are sweeter and less acidic. You can usually find canned San Marzano tomatoes at your grocery store. But there are times I can’t find this variety, so I have used other brands of crushed tomatoes or fire-roasted crushed tomatoes, and the sauce still turns out amazing. So whichever type or brand you use, be sure they are crushed tomatoes.

Adding Meat to the Sauce:

If you like to have meat in your spaghetti sauce, you certainly can add it. I love to use ground pork sausage in my sauce, or you can use ground beef. You can brown the meat with the onions (be sure to cook it thoroughly), draining off the extra fat, or cook the meat separately and add it to the sauce at the end.

We love meatballs with our spaghetti, and my Baked Sausage Meatballs complement this sauce perfectly. The meatballs are full of flavor and baked to perfection! And don’t forget the garlic bread with homemade Garlic Bread Spread!

Freezing Instructions:

It’s easy to freeze any leftovers to use later or make a larger batch with the intent to freeze for future use. Allow the sauce to cool completely, spoon the desired amount into sealable freezer bags, label, and lay flat in your freezer. Once frozen, they stack easily in your freezer.

Thawing and Reheating Instructions:

When you are ready to use the sauce, let it thaw at room temperature for a few hours or in the refrigerator overnight. Then, reheat on the stovetop over medium-low heat until warmed through. 

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

Homemade spaghetti sauce doesn't need to be complex or time-consuming to be delicious. You just need good, quality ingredients to make a sauce full of amazing flavor. This recipe is perfect for making large batches to feed a crowd or freezing for quick, easy meals later.
5 from 1 vote
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Course Main Course
Servings 6 Cups

Ingredients
 

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 sweet onion, diced
  • 6 garlic cloves, minced, (more or less based on preference)
  • 2 28 ounce cans crushed tomatoes, preferably fire-roasted
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1½ teaspoons salt
  • 1½ teaspoons dried oregano
  • 2 teaspoons dried sweet basil, (1½ tablespoons minced fresh basil)
  • ½ cup grated parmesan cheese

Instructions
 

  • Heat oil over medium to medium-high heat in a large skillet or pot. Add the diced onions and saute for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring frequently. Next, add the garlic and saute for another 1 to 2 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent the garlic from burning.
  • Add the crushed tomatoes, sugar, salt, oregano, basil, and parmesan cheese (break up any clumps before adding). Stir well. Bring to a simmer.
  • Reduce the heat to medium-low, but maintain a simmer. Simmer for at least an hour to give the sauce time to cook down and thicken.
  • Serve over spaghetti noodles. This spaghetti sauce pairs perfectly with my Baked Sausage Meatball recipe.

Notes

Adding Meat to the Sauce: If you like to have meat in your spaghetti sauce, you certainly can add it. You can use ground pork sausage or ground beef. Brown the meat with the onions (be sure to cook it thoroughly), draining off the extra fat, or cook the meat separately and add it to the sauce at the end.
Freezing Instructions: It’s easy to freeze any leftovers to use later or make a larger batch with the intent to freeze for future use. Allow the sauce to cool completely, spoon the desired amount into sealable freezer bags, label, and lay flat in your freezer. Once frozen, they stack easily in your freezer.
Thawing and Reheating: When you are ready to use the sauce. Let it thaw at room temperature for a few hours or in the refrigerator overnight. Then reheat on the stovetop over medium-low heat until warmed through. 
 
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CAPRESE SALAD

This recipe is the perfect way to use those beautiful tomatoes growing in your garden! With only a few fresh ingredients, you have a light, healthy, and delicious salad. So don’t let the summer slip away without making this amazing Caprese salad!

Caprese salad is my favorite way to use our garden tomatoes in the summer. Not only is it easy to put together, but it’s also healthy and amazingly delicious!

A great Caprese salad starts with great ingredients. This recipe is meant for summertime when tomatoes are at their juiciest, sweetest, and most flavorful. Of course, you can make this any time of the year, but it is best with fresh summertime tomatoes! Don’t worry if you don’t grow your own tomatoes; just be selective in the tomatoes you buy from the store or farmer’s market. Avoid tomatoes with blemishes or dark spots. The tomato should have a good weight for its size. A heavy tomato indicates juiciness. And lastly, the tomato should be very aromatic when you smell it near where the stem was attached.

Ingredients:

Besides the freshest and tastiest tomatoes, you’ll need only four other ingredients. Because there are so few ingredients, the quality of each is that much more important.

  • Mozzarella: The mozzarella should be fresh, soft, and packed in water. When you cut the mozzarella, you want to use a very sharp knife. Because the mozzarella is soft, a dull knife will squish the mozzarella instead of cutting it.
  • Basil: Only fresh leaves will do! I like to use large, whole leaves. If the leaves are smaller, you can use more than one leaf for each tomato.
  • Sea Salt: I keep sea salt on hand, and it’s my preferred salt in many dishes. I like sea salt for its coarse and crunchy texture. It also has a stronger salt taste.
  • Fresh ground pepper: When pepper is freshly ground, it’s significantly more flavorful than pre-ground pepper. When you grind pepper immediately before eating, the ground pepper has significantly less time to react with the oxygen, which allows it to maintain the flavor components that make it peppery. So if you don’t own a pepper grinder, I strongly recommend that you get one; you won’t regret it!

Balsamic Glaze:

I’m giving the balsamic glaze its own heading because it’s that important! The glaze really brings this dish together and gives it that “WOW” factor. With the perfect balance of sweet and tangy, balsamic glaze adds a delicious, deep rich color and intense flavor to this dish.

You can certainly buy balsamic glazes at the grocery store; I have, and they’re not bad. But nothing beats homemade. And it only takes two ingredients and fifteen minutes to make.

Combine the balsamic vinegar and the brown sugar in a small saucepan, and bring to a gentle boil. Then turn the heat down to medium or medium-low, maintaining a constant simmer. Stir the glaze occasionally and continue cooking until it has thickened and coats the back of a spoon (about 10 to 15 minutes). If the glaze is not thickening up, turn the heat up slightly. The finished glaze should have the consistency of warm honey. It will thicken some as it cools.

One word of warning…Turn on your stove’s exhaust fan! Cooking balsamic vinegar produces a very strong vinegar smell that will permeate your entire house. Turning on the fan will help some.

Caprese Salad

This recipe is the perfect way to use those beautiful tomatoes growing in your garden! With only a few fresh ingredients, you have a light, healthy, and delicious salad. So don't let the summer slip away without making this amazing Caprese salad!
5 from 1 vote
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Course Appetizer, Salad
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
 

  • 8 ounces fresh mozzarella, about ¼-inch thick slices
  • 2 medium tomatoes, about ¼-inch thick slices
  • basil leaves
  • sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
  • balsamic glaze, **You can find balsamic glaze in the grocery store, or you can make it yourself. I've included instructions on how to make homemade balsamic glaze below.

Homemade Balsamic Glaze: (optional)

  • 1 cup balsamic vinegar
  • ¼ cup brown sugar, packed

Instructions
 

  • Arrange the sliced mozzarella, sliced tomatoes, and basil leaves in an alternating pattern on a plate (a slice of mozzarella, tomato, and basil leaf, repeat).
  • Lightly sprinkle with sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.
  • Drizzle everything with the balsamic glaze with back-and-forth motions.

Homemade balsamic glaze: (optional)

  • Heat balsamic vinegar and sugar in a small pot or saucepan over medium heat.
  • Bring to a gentle boil, reduce heat to medium or medium-low heat, and maintain a constant simmer. Stir occasionally until the vinegar thickens and is reduced by about half (about 10 to 15 minutes). It should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. The glaze should have the consistency of warm honey. (Be sure to turn on the stove fan, the smell of the cooking vinegar is strong).
  • Remove from heat and allow to cool completely before serving (about 15 minutes). The glaze will thicken some as it cools.
  • Store leftover glaze in the refrigerator and use it within two months.
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