Homemade Spaghetti Sauce!!!

A few weeks ago, I used tomatoes from our garden to make spaghetti sauce. However, I cheated a little. I used Mrs. Wages Spaghetti Sauce Tomato Mix instead of making it from scratch. I am so happy that I did it that way. This is my first year canning and I found the thought of it daunting. However, we had an overabundance of tomatoes in our garden this year and I had to do something with them. The packet made the whole process so much easier for my brain to handle.

Well, the tomato plants haven't stopped producing and I am trying my darndest to keep up with them. So, today I made spaghetti sauce for dinner and I made it from SCRATCH!!! I did not have a Mrs. Wages packet on hand and I figured since I had gotten my feet wet already I might-as-well jump right in.

I loosely - very loosely - followed two recipes in my Better Homes and Garden's cookbook. Why 2 recipes? I first thought that the Tomato and Basil sauce sounded yummy but after I started cooking, I thought the marinara recipe sounded even better. So, I took a little of this from one recipe and a little of that from the other recipe and came up with my own variation. Then, I threw in some ground Turkey for good measure.

I love that so much of this meal came from our garden...tomatoes, basil, onion. I should have thrown in some green bell or banana peppers. I didn't think of that when I was cooking. Ah well, next time!

We had it over Whole Wheat Rotini. The 4-year-old loves the spiral shape and the 1-year-old can get a better grip on the spirals compared to other pasta shapes.

Here's the best part... EVERYONE like it!!! Both kiddos had more that one helping...shock! My hubby ate several helpings - but that's normal for him with any meal. The man likes his food! I definitely liked it the least but I don't like tomatoes or onions that much so the fact that I even ate it is good progress for me.

The only problem with the meal...baths were a necessity afterwards. Our youngest had spaghetti sauce everywhere that was not covered by the bib. His hair was especially disgusting. What a mess!!!