Spaghetti Sauce!

What do you do when someone gives you one of those massive, food-service-size cans of tomato sauce?

You make a PANT-LOAD of spaghetti sauce.

This is super simple and you can turn it into vegan in a snap by simply omitting the butter.  I'd just add in a bit of extra olive oil instead.  You start off by dumping said giant can into a pot on the stove over low heat and adding about 1/3 cup of butter.  You may notice, from the bits floating, that I love chunky sauce, so I also plopped in three cans of diced tomatoes and a few that were in the fridge at risk of turning.  You could chop up mushrooms and peppers to add here, if you prefer, but I prefer a bit simpler of a sauce.

I also added  4 tbsp of olive oil, 2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar, 1/2 cup of dried onion (was out of fresh - GASP -), and about 1/2 tsp each of sugar, cayenne, and thyme.

The rest of the spices I used include oregano, rosemary, basil, salt, pepper, and garlic.  I didn't give measurements because these will vary depending on how robust you want your sauce.  I added a little of each, then would put the lid on the pot and let it simmer for about 15-20 minutes.  If it needed more, I added a little more of whatever I thought it needed until it tasted right.  Some people like a more bland sauce and some (read: the Wookie and I) like a very strong, garlicky, herby sauce.

Next step: freezing.  This trick, it turns out, doesn't work so well at all.  Even when I wrapped the bag around the cup it kept slipping and sauce almost went everywhere, so after the second attempt at this, I just held it open my damn self.  :)

I portioned this in 2 cups per bag for freezing.  The best method for this (IMO), is to fill the bag, then set it on a flat surface with all the sauce resting at the bottom.

Then, SLOWLY, ever so slowly, lay the bag while still holding the zippy part up.  This will allow the sauce to lay flat and force out most or all of the air.  Once you see the sauce start to rise towards the zipper, as you can see in the photo, then zip it closed!

This allows for them to lay flat, pretty and stacked in the freezer, but with little to no pesky air bubbles.  Much more of a space-saver than those annoying plastic bowls that always just get ice chips in them anyway.

When you're ready for pasta (or pizza, or dipping sauce), just take a bag out and run it under room-temperature water for a few minutes and it thaws right out, ready to be re-heated.

How does it taste?

FABULOUS.  I will never, ever, ever buy pasta sauce again.  Ever.  From now on, I'll just go get a massive can and make stacks like this.  It was cheaper, very easy, lasts a long time, and tastes light years beyond store-bought sauce.  We even gave a few bags away to some friends and got hella compliments.  Go me.

<3

WW