Sketti

I grew up eating spaghetti with homemade spaghetti sauce. I can deal with eating the can and jar stuff in a pinch, but when I have the time, I really have to make some real spaghetti sauce. Real spaghetti sauce = a good base of vegetables. Finely chopped vegetables - so your husband will still eat the sauce.

You need carrots, celery, and onion to start off with.





Cook down the vegetables.
Add a lot of diced garlic.While the veggies are cooking, brown some italian sausage in a separate pan.
Brown some ground pork and ground beef.
Add all of the meat to the cooked vegetables and set aside.Deglaze the meat pan with some red wine.

Then start adding the tomato products. Tomato sauce, diced and whole crushed tomatoes for texture, and some tomato paste to thicken everything.Heat up the tomato and wine mixture until it gets hot. Then add the veggies & meat.

Now for the herbs and seasoning. Fresh is best, but I don't have an herb garden yet. So, you can make due with dry.

Stir it all together and let it simmer for about an hour, stirring occasionally.

Find and remove the bay leaf (its for seasoning only - your not supposed to eat it). Then serve with some hot pasta & Parmesan cheese. I make this in large batches so that I can freeze what's left or make a lasagna with it and freeze that.

I don't really have measurements for any of these ingredients - its just whatever feels right, but here's an estimate:

3-4 carrots
3-4 stalks of celery
1 1/2 -2 white onions
2-3 tablespoons minced garlic
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
1 pound italian sausage
1/4 cup red wine
1 can tomato paste
2 cans tomato sauce
1 can diced/whole crushed tomatoes
(with the tomato sauce part - you are just shooting to have enough to mix with the rest of the ingredients)
parsley
thyme
rosemary
basil
oregano
1 bay leaf
salt
white pepper
black pepper