Aunt Sue's Spaghetti Sauce

My daughter in law served the most luscious spaghetti sauce recently when we were invited for dinner.  I'm a Prego sauce girl myself as I grew up on canned sauce but this particular sauce was just too good not to ask for the recipe.  Katie said this was her Aunt Sue's recipe and she offered to share it with me.  I've made it several times and each time I've been very happy with the results.  Adding the grated Parmesan cheese to the sauce helps to thicken it plus enhance the flavors.  I like lots of big chunky veggies in my sauce and always add ground meat too, either beef or turkey.

1 med. green pepper chopped (I use red, green and yellow peppers using about 1/2 a pepper each)
1 large onion chopped
3 cloves of garlic finally chopped
1 tablespoon oregano (I used dried not fresh)
1 tbs. basil (I used dried not fresh)
1/2 cup sugar
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 pounds ground meat optional

Brown all of the above in stock pot until soft an translucent, if making meat sauce add the ground meat after the veggies have started to softened. You can also sneak more veggies into the sauce such as mushrooms or finally chopped carrots without the kids noticing the added veggies. Drain any access liquid from the pot when veggies and meat have cooked.

Next add to the pot
2  24oz. cans of good tomato sauce
1 small can of good tomato paste
2 cups water
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

I let this simmer about three hours until its thick and rich.

 

This sauce is thick and rich enough to be used for a dipping sauce for bread sticks or served over your favorite pasta.

And why might you ask is our dog Izzy joining in on this post about food.  Well while the tubs of sauce were sitting on the counter cooling before I put them in the freezer Izzy decided to help herself to one.  Not a drop was wasted as all I found was the empty container and lid... I guess Izzy gives this recipe a thumbs up too.

 

Thanks to Aunt Sue for permission to share her spaghetti sauce recipe for Foodie Friday.

I'm joining the great foodies participating in Foodie Friday