One of my fondest memories of a child is going through my mother’s recipe box and looking up all of her mother’s recipe’s, and then mixing up some of the yummiest cookies.  When I married my husband, he had one of his grandmother’s recipes that is used whenever we need a great Italian red sauce for a meal.  I have a lot of friends who waited months for the release of this recipe and for the past six months, my husband and I have shared some of those treasured recipes on our own website.  As a parent, not only do you want to give your children the documented memories through photographs, but you also want to hand down those cherished recipe’s that will be made time and again for family meals.  The recipe we want to share with you this week is my husband’s Grandmother’s easy spaghetti sauce recipe. Grandma Clara made up this simple recipe years ago during the depression with the minimum of ingredients for the most delicious spaghetti sauce this side of Ellis Island!

You can use this sauce for anything under the sun related to Italian food! Good thing I married an Italian who loves to cook!

Grandma Clara’s Easy Sauce (for one pound of pasta)

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil (Extra Virgin)
2 Cloves of Garlic (Pressed)*
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 cup of Red Wine*
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 Tablespoons Minced Onion*
1/2 Teaspoon Mixed Italian Seasoning*
2 8 oz. cans of tomato sauce (Contadina preferred)
2 6 oz. cans of tomato paste (Contadina preferred)
2 paste cans of water
1 Bay Leaf
1 Pound of Italian Sausage* (meat optional, can substitute ground beef)
For chunkier sauce, substitute one 14.5oz can of diced tomatoes in place of the water.

*to taste

Instructions

Saute onions in large sauce pan with olive oil until soft
Add garlic, spices, and simmer for 5 mins
Add wine and simmer for 5 mins
Add the rest of the ingredients into pot.
If you only want a simple sauce with no extras, do not add the tomatoes or meat.
If adding meat to the sauce, cook thoroughly and render. Cut sausage into pieces.
Add meat once you have combined all of the above listed ingredients.
Simmer all ingredients for 1-2 hours.
Remove bay leaf

Serve over pasta, lasagna, or any other dish.

After you have handed down the boxes of cherished photographs to your children, think about some of the family recipes you are going to share with them so they can remember those scrumptious meals forever.