Meat Sauce for any pasta

One of my favorite meals to make is spaghetti, or any pasta really, with meat sauce. I’ll warn you now that this recipe is not a “from scratch” recipe. This is a convenience recipe. But the end result is still delicious.

List of ingredients I used:

1. 1/2 medium white onion (chopped how you like)
2. 2 pounds ground beef
3. large bottle of whichever pasta sauce you prefer
4. pepper (to taste)
5. tomato sauce ( i used a 12 oz can)
6. 1 12 oz can diced tomato
7. oregano (to taste)
8. 1/2 small can of tomato paste
9. 2tsp chopped garlic ( i use already chopped)
10. approx 2 tsp italian seasoning
11. dash of cumin (it’s a very strong flavor for me, add more if that’s a flavor you like)
12. Sea salt to taste

Step 1.

Start by emptying the big jar of premade sauce into whatever pot you have available. Mixing in Italian seasoning, oregano ( I crush it in my palm before adding in), 1 can of diced tomato and a large can (12-14oz) of tomato sauce. Simmer on med/low to get some better flavor mix.

Step 2.

While the sauce starts simmering, I'm browning the meat, my youngest (LAS 8) helps prepare by chopping some onions. I like mine fine diced because I have texture issues and if I bite a chunk of onion I wont want to eat the dish. Add the salt, pepper, chopped onions and garlic to the meat while it's browning. Once it's browned, drain the fat from the meat (if needed). I buy the lean ground beef to avoid having to do this.  

Depending on how my body feels I usually let this simmer for an hour once I add the meat to the sauce.

While the pot of sauce is simmering (Don’t forget to stir!) I turn my attention to the discount rack sub breads I found at the grocery store. I show LAS how to cut these in half and we make a butter + chopped garlic + parsley mix. Melt the butter to soften then add the garlic and parsley to my liking, mix and butter the bread. Brown on the skillet, and voila! Delicious garlic bread to go with our spaghetti! You can use any type of bread you like.

Now when I say you can do this recipe to your flavor please do. Remember to taste it before adding more of anything. I once wasted a whole pot of sauce because I added too much cumin! I’ve since avoided cumin as its such a strong flavor memory for me. (Is that weird?)

When I’m feeling up to it I will make my from scratch sauce I add in all the things to make it mine, but sometimes my body just isn’t having it, so I make something like this. Using what was on hand, I just didn’t feel like going to the store, and that’s okay.

I like my sauce to be a bit spicy. So I usually add some spicy chorizo from my favorite Hispanic store. Or how about some spicy Italian sausage for spicy flavors? Celery, and black olives (even though I don’t like to eat them, they’re a nightmare for my texture issues) I add them for the flavor. When I add these type of things to my recipes I usually chop them big enough to pick out when the sauce is done cooking.

I hope you enjoy the recipe and let me know what adjustments you made for yourself! It’s okay to not make a recipe “the way it’s supposed to be made” I usually use a solid base recipe and adjust to my needs for the day.