Sunday Night Feast

All of my life, my dad made his own spaghetti sauce.  We were never a sauce-out-of-a-jar kind of family, and quite frankly I find the sauce in jars disgusting.  Doesn't matter what brand, it's all inedible.  This sauce has ruined all other sauces for me.  I can't go to a legit Italian restaurant without thinking that my dad's sauce is much more tasty.   Before I moved out of my parent's house, I wrote down my dad's spaghetti sauce recipe as he made it since he didn't know the exact measurements.  Isn't that always how it goes?  My grandmother has made legendary rice pudding for the past 40 or so years, and my mom and aunts always wanted her to write down the recipe, but she never measured when she made it so she had no idea.

I guess you would call my dad's recipe semi-homemade, since the base of the sauce is a pre-made spaghetti sauce, although it's in a can, so I consider it completely different than the jars.  Since I've been making the sauce myself, I've tweaked the original recipe a bit.  Here is the recipe in it's current state:

Dad's/My Spaghetti Sauce
1 diced spanish onion
4 diced garlic cloves
1 28oz. can Don Pepino Spaghetti Sauce
1 1lb. 12 oz. can Furmano's crushed tomatoes
1 6oz. Contadina Tomato Paste
1 palmful dried basil leaves
1 palmful dried parsley
1 palmful dried oregano
1 palmful finely chopped fresh basil leaves
1 palmful garlic powder
1 bay leaf
1 squeeze honey

If fresh parsley is available at our produce store, I include that as well.  Basically you saute the onions and garlic with a splash of olive oil until the onions start to break down.  Then add the tomato products and herbs.  The honey goes in at the end for a little bit of sweetness.  After everything is combined, turn the heat to low and let it simmer while you cook your pasta.  I usually double the recipe and it makes enough for 5 dinners for me and Nick.  Trust me, it's delicious and definitely worth the extra few minutes to make your own.

Don't worry, I'm not always wearing strange things on my face while at this stove.  What am I wearing this time, you may be wondering.  The goggles that I'm wearing are called Onion Goggles, and are one of the best gifts Nick has ever gotten for me.  I have super sensative eyes when it comes to cutting up and cooking onions, and these babies have foam around the rims so none of the fumes can get to your eyes.  Also, check out the awesome Anthro apron that one of my pal's got me for Christmas!

Here's a shot of the sauce with everything combined.  It's thick with small chunks and a ton of flavor.  Delicious!

My family has never bought garlic bread in the frozen food section either.  Why bother when you can just sprinkle some garlic powder, garlic salt, and oregano over some buttered bread and throw it in the toaster oven?  Here's a shot of our yumsy Sunday Night Feast.

Trust me, it was delicious.  For dessert, we had some of the chocolate chip cookies that I made on Friday night.  I can't claim any responsibility for the recipe, but I started using it about 5 years ago, and now feel no need to eat any other type of chocolate chip cookie.  The secret ingredient is pudding, which makes them soft on the inside but still have a little crisp on the outside.  They are amazing and addicting.  One of my co-workers compared them to crack.  I hope not from experience.  Do yourself and your family a favor and whip up a batch.  They will be gone the next day, guaranteed.