{"id":6002,"date":"2012-12-17T00:01:44","date_gmt":"2012-12-17T06:01:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=6002"},"modified":"2012-12-17T00:01:44","modified_gmt":"2012-12-17T06:01:44","slug":"whats-on-your-plate-spaghetti-sauce-with-a-bonus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2012\/12\/17\/whats-on-your-plate-spaghetti-sauce-with-a-bonus\/","title":{"rendered":"GCH: What’s on Your Plate? – Spaghetti Sauce (with a Bonus!)"},"content":{"rendered":"

A very long time ago\u2014when I was a teenager\u2014a gracious, lovely woman taught me how to cook \u201cnuttin\u2019 fancy,\u201d as she put it. Nonnina, my high-school sweetheart\u2019s gramma, took me to her side and instructed me in all things Italian…and not just the food! But food she DID teach me! Mostly we cooked in the basement\u2014her summer kitchen. When I asked her why, when we just had to carry the finished dishes back upstairs, she would tell me \u201c \u2018Cause I\u2019m-a not gonna stink up-a da house!\u201d \ud83d\ude09 We made pasta of all types, cookies, meat dishes, desserts, soups… and spaghetti sauce or, as Nonnina called it, \u201cgravy.\u201d So today, I give you \u2018Spaghetti Sauce\u2019 wishing I could throw a kiss to Nonnina for ALL that she schooled me in (and taught me about love)!<\/p>\n

\"2012-12-15<\/a><\/p>\n

Spaghetti Sauce<\/h2>\n

Makes 13+ cups<\/p>\n

1# ground beef
\n1# Italian sausage meat
\n2 tablespoons good olive oil
\n1 medium-large sweet (Vidalia) onion, chopped small
\n3 tablespoons minced garlic (jarred)
\n1 cup good red wine
\n2 (28-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes with seasonings
\n1 (28 ounce) can tomato puree
\n1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
\n3 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
\n1+ cups beef broth
\n2 tablespoon each dried basil
\n1 teaspoon each dried thyme, oregano
\n2 teaspoons kosher salt,\u00a0 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
\n2 tablespoons dark brown sugar<\/p>\n

In a large saute pan over medium high heat, brown meats together. When cooked, set aside in a large bowl including the juices. Pour the olive oil into a stockpot (6 quart size or so), heat over medium heat, and add the chopped onions. Cook for 5-6 minutes \u2018til soft but not browned; add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Then pour in the wine and cook \u2018til the wine is almos<\/strong>t evaporated; 3-4 minutes or so.<\/p>\n

At this point, pour in all of tomato products stirring well as you add them. Pour a small amount of the beef broth into the cans and swirl around (Nonnina-style) to get as much tomato product out of the cans as possible, and empty into your stockpot. Also add the cooked meats along with any accumulated juices. Stir in your seasonings; don\u2019t forget the brown sugar! When the sauce starts coming to a boil, cover and reduce heat to low.<\/p>\n

All you want the sauce to do is simmer<\/strong>. Cook for 30 minutes or so. It is important every 5-6 minutes to give a thorough, quick stir up from the bottom of the pan. This is a thick sauce and you wouldn\u2019t want to have it stick to the bottom of the pan and burn. (Nonnina ALWAYS insisted that, when you remove the lid to stir, quickly tip it up flat so that the condensation doesn\u2019t drip into the \u2018gravy.\u2019 Why? The water will dilute your sauce…and we don\u2019t want that! Just pour it into the sink and quickly replace the lid.)
\nThat\u2019s it! You have now made \u2018gravy!\u2019 (And your house must smell fantastic!)<\/p>\n

If not serving immediately, let cool a bit and then package for storage. I put approximately 2 cup portions into freezer bags (I use the type that have a wider sealing \u2018zipper.\u2019) If you lay them flat in the freezer \u2018til completely frozen, they can then be stored anywhere in the freezer taking up little space!<\/p>\n

\n

And now for the Bonus!! \ud83d\ude42<\/h2>\n

Bonus<\/strong>? What bonus? The bonus, friends, is a lasagna<\/strong> recipe using the Spaghetti Sauce! Putting lasagna together is SIMPLE! Try it; I think your family will be impressed! Gather your ingredients…this goes quickly.<\/p>\n

\"2012-12-15<\/a><\/p>\n

Lasagna<\/strong><\/h2>\n

2 boxes \u201cno-boil\u201d lasagna noodles (you will have some extra)*
\n16 ounces shredded cheese, such as mozzarella, provolone
\n2 ounces parmesan (freshly grated is preferred)
\n4 cups of spaghetti sauce (preferably the \u2018gravy\u2019 you just made!)<\/p>\n

for the cheesy mixture:<\/strong><\/em>\"2012-12-15<\/a>
\n3# ricotta
\n8 ounces shredded mozzarella
\n2-4 ounces parmesan
\n3 eggs, lightly beaten
\n2 teaspoons dried basil
\n1 teaspoon kosher salt
\n1 teaspoon ground black pepper<\/p>\n

Preheat oven to 350. Now, combine the cheesy mixture together in a large bowl. Then, using a 9X13 pan, begin assembling your lasagna (see * below):
\nPour about 2\/3 cup of your spaghetti sauce onto the bottom spreading around. [Tip: I find that a soup ladle is approximately 1\/3 cup so I just use that as my \u2018measuring tool.\u2019] Lay down 4 no-boil lasagna noodles. Just overlap them slightly to fit.
\nTop with 1\/3 of the cheesy mixture; spread. Add 2 ladles of sauce.
\nAdd 4 more noodles, 1\/3 of the cheesy mixture, 1 cup of shredded cheese, 2 ladles of sauce.
\nAdd 4 more noodles, 1\/3 of the cheesy mixture, 1 cup of shredded cheese, 2 ladles of sauce.
\nAdd 4 more noodles, 2 ladles of sauce, the balance of the shredded cheese and the parmesan.<\/p>\n

Cover tightly<\/strong> with aluminum foil. Bake for 50-60 minutes, \u2018til bubbly. Remove foil and bake another 5 minutes or so. Remove from oven…let sit for 15 minutes before cutting to firm up. As Nonnina would say, \u201cMangia! Mangia! (Eat! Eat!)\u201d And she would toss a kiss up to God! <3<\/p>\n

* I use the Barilla brand. The trick to using these noodles is to make certain<\/strong> that the noodles are covered with sauce and the cheesy mixture! And certainly you can use traditional lasagna noodles that need to be pre-cooked! If you do, just reduce the amount of sauce you place between layers as you build your lasagna dish.<\/p>\n

God loves you! and I do, too.<\/strong>
\n<3 coleen<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Interested in joining us for our next Online Bible Studies that start on January 6, 2013? \u00a0 Click HERE<\/a> for more details!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A very long time ago\u2014when I was a teenager\u2014a gracious, lovely woman taught me how to cook \u201cnuttin\u2019 fancy,\u201d as she put it. Nonnina, my high-school sweetheart\u2019s gramma, took me to her side and instructed me in all things Italian…and not just the food! But food she DID teach me! Mostly we cooked in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":6006,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[15],"tags":[235,370,374,417,425,483,595,641,902,932,988],"class_list":["post-6002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-at-home-with-gch","tag-coleen-hayden","tag-family","tag-family-style-meals","tag-gchwhats-on-your-plate","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-healthy-but-oh-so-yummy","tag-lasagna","tag-main-dish-recipes","tag-ricotta-cheese-recipes","tag-sauce-recipes","tag-spaghetti-sauce","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/2012-12-15-22-40-44.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-1yO","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}