After a fantastic two week vacation (which I'll elaborate on in the near future) I am happy to be back to posting these lovely recipes from my friends and family.

     This week I chose to go with the recipe my Great Aunt Lori shared with me.  I've never actually made spaghetti sauce before.  I was always the one to go for a jar of Prego or Ragu, heat it up and your done.  At least that's how I thought sauce was made.   I was surprised that a homemade sauce was almost just as easy.  Well maybe a few more steps.  I mean there was the chopping and the mincing that was involved, but that doesn't bother me so much.  

      I did as the recipe asked and chopped up 3 large onions.  After I was done I was a bit concerned I had too much.  I mean if you think about it large onions back when this recipe was written could very well be our medium onions of today.  So I ended up only really using 2 large onions instead of 3.  Another modification I made in this recipe was that when it called for black pepper I just used 1 tsp in both instances (sauce and meatballs).  All and all my husband (Tim) enjoyed the meal.  I thought it was a bit spicier than I'm used to in a spaghetti sauce.  I told him I was going to back off on the pepper next time around and he told me not to bother, he loved it just the way it was.  So we'll have to see what kind of mood I'm in the next time I make this dish. :)  It's definitely worth making again!

Spaghetti Sauce (by Great Aunt Lori)

Ingredients:

4 Tbsp Olive Oil, 3 large onions-chopped, 4-6 cloves of garlic-minced, 2 (8oz) cans of tomato sauce, 2 (6oz) cans tomato paste, black pepper, 1 tsp dried oregano, 1 tsp dried basil, 2 bay leaves, 2 tsp salt

Instructions:

1. Put olive oil in Dutch oven and turn heat on high

2. When oil is hot, add onions and garlic.  Stir well.  Lower heat to medium.  Saute until soft, about 8 minutes

3. After 8 minutes, add tomato sauce and paste.  Plus 2 tomato-paste cans of water & 2 tomato-sauce cans of water. Stir.

4. Add remaining ingredients (all except salt).  Rub herbs between your palms to crush them and release their flavor as they fall into the sauce. 

5. Cover and bring heat down to very low.  Cook for 2.5 hours.  

6. Stir about every 15 minutes to prevent sticking

7. Sauce should gentle bubble, not splatter.

8. Toward the end of cooking, add salt to taste

While the sauce is simmering move along to making the meatballs.  You'll be adding the meatballs to the sauce during the last hours of the sauce cooking. 

Meatballs 

Ingredients:

2 slices of bread (white or whole wheat), 1 1/4 pounds of lean ground beef, 1 egg, 1 tsp salt, black pepper

Instructions:

1. Soak bread in medium bowl in water to cover for 5 minutes

2. Pour off water.  Squeeze bread without wringing it completely dry, so it stays moist

3. Put bread back in bowl and mix in meat, egg, salt and pepper using your hands to push and squish the mixture

4. With wet hands, divide meat into 6-8 even pieces.  

5. Roll between the palms of your hands to form well rounded balls. 

6. Drop gently into bubbling sauce and simmer 1 hour covered