Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

Yes I know it has been a long time since I have posted on here.. I rarely have anything worth posting on here, let alone time to do so. I felt, however, this would be the most efficient way of getting multiple people my 'recipe'.

A lot of people have asked me how I make my spaghetti sauce and for a recipe.. but I don't really have one. I learned from my dad and he doesn't use one either. This is my attempt at a recipe for you all since I don't really measure my ingredients either, it's all by sight in the palm of my hand, as well as taste. I will do my best to tell you how much of each ingredient to add. This year I started adding Butternut squash to add a little extra nutrition to it, but I blend the whole pot at the end since my husband doesn't like chunks in his sauce.. haha, if you don't want to blend it or don't have a hand-held blender you can leave out the squash or just use a potato masher to break up the chunks a bit at the end. Alright, here we go.

First I take the Onions, Garlic, Herbs, Salt/Pepper and let those saute in Olive Oil until the onions start to look glassy and clear. Remember to do this on low heat so the onions don't just burn and get crispy. My oil measurement is simply a guesstimate, so make sure you keep the bottom of the pot/onions barely covered with oil but don't drown them. The oil is a tool to help cook down your onions without them sticking to the pot and drying out. The more oil you have the more greasy your sauce will be at the end. Just use enough to cook down your onions. (see onions pictures below for how much oil I use )

Here are my 'measurements' for my herbs... I tried sticking my handfuls into measuring spoons and my amount of parsley is roughly 1 teaspoon, the rest of the herbs are roughly 1/2 teaspoon as shown in the rosemary picture below. The amount of herbs may change a little depending on how strong your herbs are, how much/little butternut squash you put in, how strong you like the taste of your sauce, etc. I'm sorry I can't be more clear than that.. however, if your house starts to smell like an Italian grandmother's kitchen, I think you are on the right track.

Rosemary

Parsley

Here is what the onions will look like when they are glassy and cooked.

Glassy onions with spices

After the onions are cooked down, I add the Butternut Squash, Tomato Sauce, and Stewed Tomatoes. I use the organic tomato sauce and organic Italian-style stewed tomatoes from Costco- three cans of each.

This I let simmer on medium heat for about 45 min to an hour depending on how long it takes the squash to get cooked through. You will be able to tell when you can stick a fork through it easily just like when you are boiling potatoes. Stir every once in a while to make sure it isn't burning to the bottom of the pot. Just a friendly tip, keep a lid on when not stirring to avoid painful/messy splatters.

Simmering on Med. heat

When you can stick a fork through the squash the sauce is done. I then turn off the heat and wait for it to stop bubbling before removing the lid and blending with the hand-held blender. I hope I don't have to remind any of you that this sauce is still quite hot.. please be careful with your hand-held blenders and try not to lift it up too high- you don't have a safeguard of a lid to protect you from the hot liquid.. 

Blended sauce

When I finish blending it, I allow it to sit and cool for a bit- usually about a half hour at least before bagging to freeze. Remove all air from each bag before sealing. One batch usually gives me about six, double-serving bags to freeze and enough sauce for the two of us to use for dinner that night. Since I don't use exact measurements on squash or how much gets scooped into the bags each time, it varies how many bags I have.

After I scoop the sauce into quart freezer bags I lay them flat in the freezer to store easier later. Then I stack them vertically into a dollar store basket in my freezer to take up less space. One batch usually stays good for a few months.. We never let it go much longer than that before we need to make another batch so I honestly don't have any idea how long it actually stays good in the freezer. 

Here are some pics of how I freeze my bags of sauce. 

approx. amount of sauce I put in each bag

bags laying horizontally to freeze

frozen sauce stored vertically in dollar store basket

Here is the best recipe I can come up with as far as measurements go. 

Spaghetti Sauce

Ingredients:
3 cans (15oz) Italian-Style Stewed Tomatoes
3 cans (15oz) Tomato Sauce 
1/2 Medium Onion, diced 
3-5 cloves of Garlic, minced (depending on how much you enjoy garlic.. I like it a lot.) 
3-4 C. Butternut Squash, cut into ~1" cubes 
~1/4 C. Olive Oil 
1 teaspoon Dried Parsley 
1/2 teaspoon Dried Rosemary 
1/2 teaspoon Dried Oregano 
1/2 teaspoon Dried Basil 
1/2 teaspoon Dried Thyme 
Salt and Pepper to taste 

Instructions:
Heat a large pot on low heat. Add onions, garlic, herbs and salt/pepper to olive oil and saute on low heat for about 10 min. until onions get glassy and clear. Add butternut squash, tomatoes, and tomato sauce; let simmer on medium heat for about 45 min to an hour until squash is cooked through, stirring every couple minutes. Once squash is cooked through, turn heat off and wait for bubbling to stop. Use the hand blender to break up the squash and tomatoes to make a smooth sauce. 

Once again, I do not know the exact length of time each bag will stay good in the freezer, I never make it more than a few months before all the bags are gone and I need to make a new batch. Hope you all enjoy this as much as I do. It's pretty easy and slightly cheaper than buying jars of pre-made, plus I know what all the ingredients are, not to mention I enjoy it significantly more than store-bought sauce. When I go to use a frozen bag of sauce I simply break it up into a sauce pan and re-heat. I usually avoid the microwave if I can, but I'm sure you can re-heat it in there as well.