Easy, Delicious Pasta Sauce - YUMMY!

 

Italian Pasta Sauce

 

 

 

I'm going to share with you my Mama's pasta sauce recipe.  It is so delicious! And the best part?  It's so easy to make!  Impress your kids, your significant other, or your picky in-laws. 

The hardest part of this recipe is the chopping. 

Once you've finished that, it's an easy downhill ride of pure scrumptiousness.  This sauce gets even better after it's been sitting in the fridge for a couple of days. 

I swear, it's so good it will make your toes curl.
 
Here's what you'll need: 

• 6 ounces of real, honest to goodness, olive oil (not the extra virgin kind)
• 1 package Hillshire Farm Mild Italian Sausage (or you can use a pound of ground beef.  Sometimes in the winter I will use BOTH since my hubby is quite the carnivore.)
• 12 garlic cloves, finely sliced
• 1 sweet onion (I like vidalia) or you can just use a regular white onion (medium sized)
• 2 (28 ounce) cans crushed tomatoes. (Try to find organic or imported - these have little to no citric acid in them and your sauce will taste better)
• 1 teaspoon salt (DON'T use table salt. Use kosher salt or sea salt)
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried basil leaves (if you have fresh basil, use a large handful)
• 1 teaspoon italian seasoning

This is how you do it:

 

Slice the italian sausage into 1/2 to 1 inch thick slices.  Chop up onion and garlic.

 

 



 

In a medium/large saucepan over medium heat, add olive oil.

 

 

 

Once the oil is heated, add the chopped onion to the pan.  Cook onions about 3 minutes stirring occasionally.

 

 

 

 

 Add the chopped garlic and continue to stir for about 2 minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add italian sausage and cook for an additional 5-7 minutes or until sausage browns.

 

 

 

 

 

 It should look like this when it's done

 

 Pour both cans of crushed tomatoes into a crockpot and add all the seasonings.

 

 

 

 

 

Pour in contents from skillet - do not drain! 

(If you choose to use ground beef, then you SHOULD drain it)

 

 

 

 

 

Here is your pot of deliciousness ~ Stir everything up and cover.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cook on low in crockpot 8-10 hours or high for 4 hours.

 

If you don't want to wait, you don't have to use the crockpot.  You can just put everything into a large saucepan, heat on medium high until mixture bubbles, then turn it down to medium low and let it simmer for a good 20 minutes. 

 

Serve over pasta of your choice! 

I like whole wheat thin spaghetti, cheese tortellini or ravioli.

 

YUM!!!