Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Homemade {All-Natural} Spaghetti Sauce





Years ago I attempted to make my own pizza sauce.  It was a total failure!  I didn't want to waste it, so in order to use it up I would mix it with the store bought sauce.   

A couple of weeks ago I ran across Roma tomatoes that were on sale for .29 for about 9 of them.  I was so excited!  I purchased 7 of the bundles and decided maybe this time I would try spaghetti sauce.


Instead of searching the internet like I often do, I began flipping through the pages of some of my cookbooks.  I wanted to find a spaghetti sauce recipe that was mostly from scratch.   I settled on a recipe from my Gooseberry Patch cookbook, Mom's Favorite Recipes, called "All-Pasta Sauce". I made a few modifications to the recipe, but basically it is the same.  

Spaghetti Sauce (or All-Pasta Sauce)
Makes: 6- 1 quart jars

* If you want an easy way to peel tomatoes, follow the same instructions as given for the peaches in this post:  "Blueberry Peach Crisp"

Approximately 5 dozen Roma tomatoes peeled. 
1- 1/2 lbs of onions, chopped
2 cloves of garlic
1 c. oil
1/4 c canning salt
1/2 T. dried oregano
1 T. dried parsley
3/4 c sugar
24 oz of tomato paste (This is the only item from a jar. The label should read only tomato.)

Place tomatoes, onions, and garlic in a large stockpot.  Bring everything to a boil.  Turn down the temperature and boil gently for about one hour.  Add the remaining ingredients and boil one hour longer.  

This is before blending....  If you like your sauce really chunky you can pour it into your jars as is.  My kids tend to pick everything out if they see it, so I blended up my sauce.  Pour a little sauce into the blender at a time, then pulse for just a few quick seconds. You want it just barely blended.  Pour from blender into jars.  



I like to freeze my jars.  But you can also can them by processing them in a hot water bath for 20 mins. Either way make sure you leave about a 1 in. head space.



I love this sauce!  It is one of the best I have ever had.  And I'm not just saying that because I made it.  I actually was very surprised that I did like it, as some things that I make, I don't.  :0)   An added plug to make you want to try it....my son that hates spaghetti said, "Well, it's not as bad as all the others!"  LOL

Bon Apetite!!





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21 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for the recipe! My sister and I canned lots of stuff last year but didn't get around to pasta sauce because we couldn't settle on a recipe, so we made tomato jam instead (heavenly). I have high hopes for my heirloom tomatoes this year and will be trying this.

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  2. Looks yummy! Thanks for sharing the recipe :) I'm going ot have to try this one!

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  3. Please use caution. If you are using this receipe in a water bath it doesn't have enough acidity. It's perfect for a pressure canner though. I'm not a professional but I did a lot of research before I started canning a few years back.

    Thanks
    Donna

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    1. Humm.....processing in a 20 min. water bath is directly from the cook book. I guess I would be surprised that they would publish it if it was unsafe. :0)

      Thank you for your words of caution though. I appreciate you taking the time to let us know.

      Melissa

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    2. LOL, what made me start researching was I found a cookbook that had a recipe for making pumpkin butter for canning and I came to find out pumpkin butter absolutely cannot be canned, period. Decided I didn't want to kill anybody and threw it all away :-) BTW, your lemon bars were awesome, made them last night!!!!

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    3. What a bummer!!! I guess I'll have to double check what people do. I do vaguely remember something about adding lemon juice or something like that, that people add to make things more safe to can. That's too bad that a recipe could be unsafe. I guess freezing and pressure canning for now....

      So glad you enjoyed the lemon bars!

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  4. Yum! Looks delicious! We eat a lot of meatless spaghetti at my house, so the sauce is very important. I'm pinning your recipe. :)

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  5. Thanks so much for your support at our link up party. I am glad that we finally have something going that will hopefully generate some traffic. Also, I added a link to this post to a Let Your Kids Make Dough at allthingswithpurpose.com. If you would email me a picture, I'll add that instead of just the link. juliaforshee@hotmail.com

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  6. Question - I have never heard of sticking the jars in the freezer - will that truly work? If so, how long can we keep them in there? Instead of water bathing after sealing, you stick them straight in the freezer?

    Thanks :)

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  7. Yes, I do stick them right in the freezer! I remember asking my grandma about it (she gave me all the jars) and she was a little nervous, not knowing if it would work. So, I tried one or two. I have only had one jar break in the last three years that I have done this......I had filled it more than the 1"-1 1/2" at the top that I recommend (I wanted to fit all the rest in the jar. :0)

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  8. Newest follower here! I found you through the blog hop. You have a super cute blog, I can't wait to read more. You can find me at meandmr.com

    -Melanie @meandmr.com

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  9. Looking forward to trying this! Stopping by from TT&J :)

    RamblingReed.blogspot.com

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  10. Thank you for posting this Melissa! I've been looking for a good recipe. Love this!

    Katie
    www.funhomethings.com

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  11. do you skin the tomatoes?

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    1. Yes, I do. If you want an easy way to skin them you can go to my Blueberry Crisp post. The link is right at the beginning of the tomato sauce recipe.

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  12. Oh, I can't wait for summer tomatoes to make an abundance of this sauce!! Homemade sauce is so much better!
    A trick my dad taught me for peeling tomatoes that is even less time consuming (if you allow for freezing), is to put the whole tomatoes in a large ziplock bag and stick in the freezer. Keep them there as long as needed....a few hours, a few weeks, whenever you have time to make your sauce. Pull out the bag from the freezer and put on the counter to thaw. Once the tomatoes have thawed, the skin comes right off. Easy peasy, no boiling necessary. :)

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    1. You're Dad's trick sounds like a great idea!! I am going to have to try that. I got some extra tomatoes the other day, but didn't have enough time to make anything out of them before they went bad. I should have stuck them in the freezer. :) Thanks for sharing!

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  13. I make the same type of sauce, but use grated carrots to sweeten it instead of sugar. Works great.

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  14. My kids tend to pick everything out if they see it, so I blended up my sauce. Pour a little sauce into the blender at a time, then pulse for just a few quick seconds. You want it just barely blended. Pour from blender into jars. at day nghe spa

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