Spaghetti

When we first started our garden we planted lots of tomato seeds. Which is sort of funny because as a family we never buy tomatoes. We don't eat tomatoes raw. No one in our house even really likes tomatoes, aside from ketchup or spaghetti sauce. The one thing we all wanted to try was to try to make our own spaghetti sauce. Well last week we were able to do just that!
First of all I just want to say... Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a spaghetti sauce recipe that doesn't involve canned tomatoes or tomato paste??? Maybe I am just not very good at searching but I found it pretty difficult. This was the easiest one I found.

Ingredients:

• 1 to 1 1/2 pounds ripe tomatoes, about 3 large tomatoes
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• black pepper, to taste
• 1 pound spaghetti
• freshly grated Parmesan cheese for serving

Preparation:

If desired, peel tomatoes; remove seeds, straining juice into a bowl. Save the juice and discard seeds. In a food processor, combine garlic, tomatoes with juice, 3 tablespoons olive oil, and basil. Pulse quickly to chop roughly. Pulse more for a smoother sauce, if desired. Transfer to a bowl, add salt and pepper and let stand to marinate for about 20 minutes. Cook pasta until just tender, drain and toss hot with the marinated tomato sauce. If hotter spaghetti is desired, heat the sauce just until hot on stovetop or in microwave. Serve immediately with Parmesan cheese.

I let the boys cut up (and seed) the tomatoes, Then the girls got to help pick the basil and measure all of the other ingredients. We threw it all in the blender because the kids won't eat a lumpy sauce. Threw in some oregano,  and Italian seasonings. Along with other various herbs that taste good! Threw in some Parmesan cheese to the mix. Browned ground beef and added that then let it simmer for an hour. And the results....

Wow! It made me realize that our normal spaghetti sauce it pretty bland... I never would have said that before I like the sauce we usually use. But now as long as we have plenty of ripe tomatoes I think this is the sauce we will be using more often!!!!!!!