Spaghetti Sauce - from Scratch :)

Ok, - so my night to make dinner was approaching quickly, as Patrick is leaving for Wisconsin for the weekend, and I knew tonight was my chance.  I have to admit my craving for pasta while pregnant is a little out of control, and it was between that, and I knew that Will loves spaghetti that I decided for a pretty simple, yet delicious dinner of spaghetti with homeade sauce.

I also got this recipe from Marilee (same time as zucchini bread one arrived) as Will just can't get enough of it when she makes it.  So, I had extra incentive, to make something delicious that will last for the weekend too! 

I got off work a little early to get to the store and buy the ingredients we didn't have on hand.

Then, I got to work.  Now, the very first thing to do was to brown the meat.  I can honestly say (and am only slightly ashamed to admit) that I have only browned meat maybe one other time in my life, and Patrick was likely the one telling me what to do.  Seriously, I know it's not that hard, but I do a really good job of making simple things hard.  Then, cutting up the onion, no problem - although I was hoping it didn't matter how finely I needed to chop up the onion, but I didn't stress much.  I cheated just a tad and used minced garlic vs. fresh chopped garlic - didn't seem to matter too much in the overall flavor. 

Next was the fun task of twisting the tops off of 6 cans of tomato sauce with our cheap/crappy can opener.  Ugh - I really don't like that thing, but we made it - with my wrist/hand only cramping a bit.  Then, it was really just adding the ingredients like: basil, oregano, sugar, chili powder, salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce.  All I will say is that my pot was almost overflowing with sauce while simmering!  Pretty funny - it was filled to the top.

Lastly - I filled up the pot with water to boil the noodles (only had to google how many cups are in 5 quarts) - which is 20!  So, I boiled the water, dropped noodles in, threw the boxed rolls in the oven, and opened the bag of lettece and put it in a bowl, and voila!! 

Dinner is served!!

Was great to see Will shovel it in (btw, he LOVES the zucchini bread too - and asks for 'bread' now every morning!)  Something so satisfying about filling up my boys with food I made for them!

Complexity: 1.5
Taste: 4