The BEST Spaghetti Sauce...Ever

So here's the post all of you have all been waiting for. Ok, like a whole two or three of you....but still... :)  If you try the sauce I think you'll be very happy indeed. I love food and having lived in major metropolitan areas on both coasts (Sacramento and NYC, respectively) and now living near the Gulf Coast I like to think I know good food when I taste it.

This recipe is not mine, but it is from a friend of Italian ancestry. It is her Aunt Lou's recipe.

Let me state to begin with that spaghetti has a sketchy history in my family consisting of five kids and two adults. It's fast, easy...and some sauces come in cans therefore we are no strangers to spaghetti sauces. We've had our fair share. The track record has been pretty steady- if four or more in our family like it (understanding that parent's votes count double) then it will likely be made again. This has led to some dinnertime rebellion around here, I admit. Children have been known to be bribed with garlic bread.

This sauce is something special. My five children are 18, 16, 9, 6 and 3. Only one child, ONE, considers this sauce so-so. This child is older than 9yo and apparently of questionable palette. The 3yo? She asked for seconds. :)

I LOVE this sauce. My husband said "It was really good!" This is the man who does not share my affinity for all things Italian. (Unless, of course, we are talking John's of 12th Street in the Little Italy area of Manhattan.) It took all my restraint to limit my taste testings. Ok, in truth, I did not limit them. :)

My 9yo who abhors anything fruit or vegetable actually said this sauce was 'Not bad!'. This is the self-same child who would beg for PB&J when faced with the possibility of lesser sauces. He ate every.single.bite- even all the pasta. If you knew this child you would truly understand the magnitude of this feat.

Without any further ado:

 Aunt Lou's Spaghetti Sauce
Or as I like to call it: The VERY BEST, Most Fantabulous Spaghetti Sauce ....Ever.

Minced garlic (I used 5 fresh cloves)
1 Green bell pepper
1 Onion
Mushrooms (I used one can)
1 Red Bellpepper ( I had a roasted yellow one in the freezer and used that)
~~~I chopped/minced/pulverized all the above in a small appliance due to the aforementioned non-veggie loving child and the mutiny that was sure to ensue should ANY of my clan spot a mushroom~~

Olive oil
Italian Seasonings - Basil, Oregano, Sage, Bayleaf  ( I used 2 Bay leaves and approximately 1 TBSP each of the rest)
5 cans Tomato Sauce
1 can Diced tomatoes ( I used Delmonte's basil, garlic and oregano)
1 can Tomato paste
1/4 C Brown Sugar (I used natural cane Turbinado sugar)
1C Romano, Asagio, Parmesean cheese blend
( I used a blend that also had aged provolone and only used 1/2 C because my blend struck me as strong. 1C would have been fine.)
1/2 C Red wine- Merlot, Pinot Noir or Sweet red. (I used Sweet Red.)
Ground beef (I used 1 lb and added sauce to it to get the thickness of sauce I like.)

~~~
Pour 4 TBSP Olive oil in a Dutch Oven and heat over Med. heat. Sautee diced/minced veggies in oil until onions are transparent. Add Tomato paste and sautee about another 5 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients (EXCEPT meat). Season to taste. Drop in a hardboiled egg (or 3) and Simmer 2-3 hours on Low heat.

Yield: I made one dinner of spaghetti with Meat sauce ( for 7 with 2 servings left over), 1 dinner of Parmesan chicken, and I could make one more spaghetti meal for at least 5, perhaps 7 people from this one batch. I think my Dutch Oven is 6 qts.  and there was some room left over while making this.

My friend had told me about the hard boiled eggs and how much she loves them, and since I love them in general I tossed in two. As soon as the sauce was done simmering, I ate the eggs. I have no idea if there is any other purpose for the eggs other than a tasty snack. A tasty snack is reason enough for me! :)


ETA: My 6yo just ran and tackled me as I sit here telling me " I LOVE the chicken! It's my most favoritest chicken ever!" It's non-breaded Parmesan chicken. Guess which sauce I used? Yep. You nailed it. :)

"Cleaned Up" Honey Orange Basil Chicken and Balsamic Citrus Dressing (Vita-Mix)

Last night I was inspired to try and use some of the oodles of basil I have in my garden. I had the idea of pairing basil and the juice of fresh oranges, but after that... my inspiration hit a dead end. I then had the idea to use the "ingredients" function on allrecipes.com and found a recipe that suited my fancy. After reading that it required marinating I decided I would put it off for tonight's dinner. You just can't shortcut a marinade.

I know, I know- displaying a nice photo of the finished recipe is blog convention and I do enjoy seeing them myself as I'm a 'a picture is worth a 1,000 words' type gal. One hindrance to my placing a photo is my beloved camera being away for repair. The other? I have five kids and a slight disability that is especially pronounced in the summer. I often forget to look at the clock. After all...it's still light outside it can't possibly be dinner time yet! Either that or I have failed to plan so it's not uncommon for dinner to be delayed due to one or both of these factors. By the time dinner is ready to be served I'm often being pressed by a number of ravenous children and they can be unrelenting. A photo op is simply not going to happen. At least, not often

OK- so to the recipes. :)

You can find the Honey Orange Basil Chicken on allrecipes. The photo does not adequately display the yumminess of this dish!

As is often the case with recipes I will adapt as I go. My goals are two-fold. 1- to "clean up" the recipe, if needed and to increase anything I think may require it in order to make the flavor more robust.

How I adapted this recipe:

To make it a "Clean Eating" recipe I simply changed out the vegetable oil for olive oil. Easy!

With flavor in mind I doubled the OJ and the orange zest. I juiced my own oranges from which I also got the zest called for in the recipe. If you use store bought OJ you will likely get a stronger orange flavor. I pulled some frozen parsley out of the freezer and I used freshly ribboned basil. I cannot tell you how much basil I used as I did it by eye, however I know I at least tripled the recipe amount. I used 8 5-oz chicken bre*sts. (Amended for internet filters.)

The chicken was delicious!! A key test- everyone in the family ate it. :) My husband did say that he preferred the chicken that had cooked with more of the basil and zest pieces on it. I agree. I think next time I make it I will strain the juice out and sprinkle the chicken with the basil and zest as it's grilling. I will probably also add in at least a TBSP of pre-minced garlic. If one only uses 1/4 cup of the OJ as the recipe is written I'd recommend starting at 1 tsp. I find garlic to always be helpful. :)

I served this with brown rice that was cooked with half chicken broth (home made), half water as well as a few larger zest pieces tossed into the rice cooker.

We also had salad with a new dressing which I really love, Balsamic Citrus Dressing. I had printed this off of the Vita-Mix site some time ago. I'm sorry I waited so long to make it! The oranges really do an excellent job of mellowing the tartness of the balsamic vinegar.

Substitutions I made according to what I had on hand and to clean it up: I used 2 pretty large oranges, a sliver of white onion (perhaps a tsp chopped?), honey for the sweetener, and one small whole lime, peeled. I halved the salt and used freshly ground black pepper.

Because I was in a hurry I did not fully read the directions and I blended it all at the same time instead of adding the oil after blending the rest. It worked out just fine. :)

If you adore citrus, as I do, these recipes will not disappoint! They make for very pleasing light summer fare. I'm already planning my lunch for tomorrow- a salad with chopped leftover chicken and dressing. :)

Chloe's Virus Killing Soup

Props to Chloe. :)

This is what we had for dinner tonight along with freshly ground whole wheat drop biscuits.

I've made this soup before, but had not used all the garlic, nor had I a fennel bulb. ~hint~ Don't skimp on the garlic, nor the fennel.

My younger children did not care for it, but it was cool with me because I enjoyed eating theirs. :) I will freeze individual portions and should I feel a virus coming on- I will pull one out to eat.

I used two onions instead of just one. I cooked one with the meat in the pressure cooker with about a third of the garlic, then the other cooked with the sauteed veggies with the rest of the garlic.

(My comments are in blue.)

Chloe's Virus Killing Soup

One chicken
Appx 15-30 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed (I used 30 or a few more. ;) )
1 Tbs salt
3-4 Thyme sprigs
Cayenne pepper (to taste. I use about a tsp) (oops! I forgot this one.)
Fresh Rosemary sprigs
Fresh ground pepper

1) Place chicken and above ingredients in a soup pot (I use my pressure cooker) and cover with water or chicken broth (I really like those boxes of organic chicken broth). Cook on stove top until chicken starts to fall apart. (I used my pressure cooker containing 1 whole chicken , cut up, for 20 minutes, next time I'll try 15 minutes. I do not care for boiled bird.) Remove from heat. Strain out chicken and stuff and set aside until cool enough to chop. Reserve broth.

1 large onion (coarsely chopped or sliced)
1 fennel bulb (sliced thin)
1 leek (sliced thin)
4-6 stalks of celery (coarse chopped)
large red pepper (coarse chopped)
1/2 lb. carrots (coarse chopped) (I used at least 1lb.)

Add any or all of the following vegetables if you have them and/or like them: (I didn't add any of these)
cabbage
yellow squash
zucchini
green beans
spinach
kale
turnips
parsnips
rutabagas
potatoes
anything you like. If you have frozen veggies wait and add them during the last step.

2-4 tbs olive oil
1/2 C good White Wine
salt and pepper

2) Place oil in bottom of large pot and heat. Add onion, fennel, celery, pepper and leek and sauté until onion just transparent. Add other vegetables cut into bite-sized pieces and cook until tender. Add wine and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Cover the vegetables with chicken broth from chicken--add more broth from can or box if you don't have enough broth from chicken and simmer veggies until just tender.

Frozen peas
Frozen green beans
flat leaf parsley (chopped) (I only added this one)
1-2 cans chopped tomatoes with juice
salt and pepper to taste (oh- and these)

3) Add the above ingredients and simmer until everything is tender. Add chopped chicken, salt and pepper to taste.

You can also add cabbage with the end ingredients if you like, or any other veggies your family likes. Sometimes I'll throw in whatever is in my veggie bin in addition to the above. You can also make it very simple with fewer veggies.

The next day add egg noodles and turn it into chicken noodle soup.

Spaghetti Squash- where have you been all my life??

I used this recipe as the base for dinner tonight. It was really good!

I had never cooked a spaghetti squash in my life, nor eaten one.

First, I used a metal skewer to pierce the squash in many places all around. Then I put it on a jelly roll pan and baked it for about 45 minutes @ 400. Once done cooking and cool enough to handle I split it, removed the seeds and pulp, then scraped the flesh out with a fork.

I had thawed 2 large chicken breasts and sliced them thinly. These I sautéed in EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) with onion and garlic, a couple splashes of lemon juice and a couple splashes of Chardonnay and some sea salt.

When the chicken was done I put it aside in a bowl. I then followed the above recipe with the following changes:

- substituted EVOO for the vegetable oil

-finely diced about 1/4 of a red bell pepper and added it after the onions were softened

- simply chopped 2 mid-sized vine ripened tomatoes

-nixed the feta because I abhor it

-nixed the olives (ick!)

- easily doubled the basil because 1- I like it, 2- I have it growing out my ears

-added a light dusting of sea salt and a touch of pepper

I did toss the squash into the pan with everything else to warm it all up nicely. I did not add in all of the chicken to the finished product. I left about 1/3 of it out for other uses.

I was the only one who ate this for dinner as my husband had been traveling and was not hungry (though he liked the taste he had) and it was well after 8PM by the time I ate. The children had already eaten...pizza. :) Since I was famished I easily ate half of it.

I look forward to the rest for lunch tomorrow.

Flavorful beans/rice/meat

I made this for dinner and thought I'd share. It was an instant favorite when I first tasted it sometime after moving to NYC. :)

Start by making "Sofrito".
(Here is my modified version as I can't get all the original ingredients (ajises, recaito) outside of NYC.)


3 bunches of cilantro
1 can mild green chili's
1 lg white onion
1/2-1 bell pepper
6 cloves garlic
olive oil to liquefy
1 tsp of original "Adobo" seasoning
(You can add in red bell pepper or pimentos if you choose. I do not.)
Puree it all together. It will fill a blender. I store it in quart-sized ziplocs frozen flat and chop off what I need. (One recipe make about 3 ziplocs divided evenly.) I like a lot of flavor so I use at 1/3 to 1/2 of a frozen bag for each recipe.

Sofrito can be used as a seasoning base not only for rice and beans, but also for meat dishes- like pork roast, or arroz con pollo.

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To make beans and rice-

Dump one can of black beans (my favorite! Or pink beans, or kidney, or chick peas, or white beans) into a pot on med heat.

Add in the sofrito (frozen or thawed), a good dose of oregano (like at least a TBSP of dried) and a touch of olive oil.

Dump in one 8 oz. can of Spanish style tomato sauce if you can get it or just regular if you cannot. (Alternatively, you can use 3 'ice cubes' of frozen tomato paste. I have come to prefer this method over tomato sauce.)

Add in a ham packet (Goya ham flavored concentrate) and a Goya Sazon (accent mark over the 'e') packet. (These both contain MSG. You can add in some small bits of ham in place of the ham packet, and the sazon packet has some garlic, cumin and coriander.)

Simmer for a couple minutes on low for flavors to blend.

Add to pot 4 cups of water, stir, then add in 2 cups rice. Give a stir, let sit for a couple minutes, then stir again then DON'T touch for the rest of the cooking time. Turn to low. It's done when the rice is cooked.
My Puerto Rican friends tend to let the water boil down to the top of the rice then cover- but the rice is a bit drier that way- which we do not prefer.

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If you were to make Arroz con Pollo (Chicken w/ rice) you follow the same basic directions with these modifications:

Leave out the beans.
Get 6 leg quarters (with skin) and cut at joint and I also cut off the last 1" or so of the drum bone.

Dredge chicken in some Adobo and oregano and minced garlic. Brown in the sofrito/tom. sauce (or paste)/oregano/oil mix.

Follow the rest of the recipe as written. You can add in chicken bullion granules with the water or use chicken broth in place of the water. With meat in the pot I do add in more sofrito- doubleing what I'd use for rice and beans, and Oregano. I also double the 2 flavor packets.

I am not one who typically leaves the skin on chicken. I do not eat it, BUT in this recipe the bones and skin make a huge difference and are much more authentic. I have tried it with chicken breasts both with and w/o bone and they are always pretty dry. The dark meat is the best! (I only like dark meat in this recipe and in the form of BBQ'd chicken.)

Three Cheers for Tea Tree and Coconut Oils!

Can I just say how much I love the combination of coconut oil and tea tree oils?

My foray into oils began months and months ago. I have collected a number of them. I simmer them, use them in home made cleansers, and place drops of thyme onto my kitchen sponge when it gets rank. (This happens regularly as I have children who do not care to rinse the sponge out after each use. A few drops of thyme squished through the sponge takes care of it and it smells nicely for some time and saves my sponge from agents such as bleach which destroy it.)

Anyways- back to topic. :)

I had heard of the benefits of tea tree oil for some time. I bought some- liked the fragrance and added it to my bathroom cleanser. I also add it to eucalyptus oil and simmer when colds are going around the family. With 5 children, that's pretty often.

I first used tea tree oil and coconut oil together for personal care when I made homemade deodorant. The stuff really works! I began to use what was left on my fingers after application on my face as a moisturizer after rinsing the baking soda off my fingertips. I noticed it helped my skin to remain clear. (I had read over time that coconut oil has anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal properties as well as antimicrobial lipids that may benefit whose who ingest it.) I don't have much of a blemish issue in general, but it still helped. I'm testing it further by applying daily to my 16yo's face as he could use the help. Xango helps tremendously, but the oil mixture is a bit less expensive and travels much more easily with no need for refrigeration.

I then recalled that tea tree oil can be used on diaper rashes. So I mixed a few drops with several TBSP of coconut oil and use as needed on the cute little hiney we have running around here. It works very well (and fast!) and takes a very light coat- no gunky white paste that is hard to wash off. I do struggle with dry skin on my fingertips that then grabs the cloth diaper microfiber insert- so it addresses two issues at once. I like that!

I decided if the mix was good for moisturizing my face- why not my legs as they often need lotion? I had been in the habit of applying rubbing alcohol after shaving to soothe irritation. I did not like using alcohol but had yet to discover anything else that would stop the irritation. Tea tree and coconut worked. I think the alcohol worked more immediately, but I'd rather be more natural if I can. I now also use it on my heels and elbows for moisturizing purposes.

What I like about coconut oil is that I can buy it at Kroger, it's not very expensive, and has no greasy residue. It's my first foray into a carrier oil (pertaining to why I initially bought it). Other oils might have the same benefits, but I live in a small market and cannot just run pick up other oils to try.

I can also use the coconut oil in cooking. I have found that if I use coconut oil rather than just plain vegetable oil in the "Playgroup Granola Bars" from allrecipes.com I do not get heartburn. (You wanted to know that, didn't you?~smile~) My results are not 100% conclusive, but I think I'm onto something.

Here's the recipe for the deodorant I mentioned (Thanks, Donna!). I do not recall where it originated from:

Homemade Deodorant

5-6 TBSP of Coconut Oil
1/4 C of Baking Soda
1/4 C Corn Starch
approx 4 drops of essential oil (I use Tea Tree due to it's properties and I like it's fragrance.)

Coconut oil firms up below 76 degrees. I have found what works best for me is storing it in an empty "Garnier Fructis Fiber Gum Putty" hair product container. The container holds a batch perfectly and makes it easy to reach. The coconut oil melts immediately upon contact with skin. When it's liquified in the summer months it does require stirring and at times it needs more coconut oil added to maintain consistency and not be overly gritty. I used a baby bottle in the summer with just the ring on it and cap. I'd remove the cap, place my fingers over the opening, shake and apply.

This is not an antiperspirant, but I'm ok with that. I figure our bodies were designed to perspire for a reason. (If at any time I feel the need for an anti-perspirant I grab my store bought stick.) I have found that it will work for at least 2 days if not washed off even with exercising. Some people have found it leaves a white residue on their black clothes. Since I rarely wear black tops I have had no such issue.