Fresh Tomato Spaghetti Sauce

I finally made a couple things worth sharing.  I'll start with this one since you may also be looking for a way to use your abundant tomatoes. We had a bowlful, so I broke one of my own cooking rules and made spaghetti sauce from scratch. It wasn't too bad to make and the sauce turned out pretty well. Lauren had thirds.

Since I had tomatoes and basil in the garden, I doled out the 99 cents for fresh parsley (by the way, what else do I make with fresh parsley?).  The recipe is from food.com, but I don't feel like looking for the link. I found it by doing a Bing search for spaghetti sauce with fresh tomatoes.


Fresh Tomato Spaghetti Sauce

4 lbs fresh tomatoes, peeled and chopped
2 medium onions, chopped (I'd peel them too)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
4 sprigs parsley
1 tablespoon sugar
grated parmesan cheese

Heat olive oil in a large iron skillet or heavy saucepan. Add onion, basil, garlic, and salt; saute until onion is tender, 5-7  minutes. Add tomatoes, parsley, and sugar; heat to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered for about 2 hours, stirring often, or until sauce has thickened. Remove parsley. (Edited to add: at this point, I used an immersion blender to mostly puree the sauce so it was smoother and more like jarred spaghetti sauce.) Serve over spaghetti or other Italian pasta and top with Parmesan cheese.

I read another recipe that said to add half a carrot to reduce the acidity of the tomatoes and add some sweetness, so I did that, and I thought the sauce was almost too sweet. If you do that, I would reduce the sugar a bit.

Pasta Carbonara

I'm sure this technique has been around for a long time, but I just found out about it. It makes a quick and cheap dinner. You can vary the amounts depending on the size of your crowd, but this is what I did.


1/2 box pasta Note: We pretty much only use Ronzoni pasta now. They have three different varieties: Smart Taste, which is regular white pasta enriched with calcium, vitamin D, and fiber; Garden Delight, which is made with vegetables (a regular serving has 1/2 serving of vegetables); and Healthy Harvest, which is whole grain. I like all three. I usually do whole grain spaghetti, the garden type of penne or similar, and Smart Taste macaroni. I can usually get this brand free or close to free with coupons, so we always have a decent supply on hand.


2 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup parmesan (I use the cheap kind in a can)
salt and pepper to taste
crumbled bacon


Cook the pasta according to package directions. While it is cooking, beat the eggs with the parmesan and salt and pepper. When pasta is done, drain it and immediately return to the pan. Dump in egg mixture and mix. The hot pasta will cook the eggs. Top with crumbled bacon and more parmesan if desired and serve.


Note: Theoretically, the pasta will completely cook the eggs. I'm not sure how thoroughly I believe that, so use caution in serving to young children. I always just pull out a serving before I put the pasta back in the pan, and serve it with butter and cheese.