Spaghetti Sauce

I know this has nothing to do with baking or sewing, but I have had several friends ask me for my recipe for spaghetti sauce.  Rather then write it out one by one, I figured I would put it on my blog and share it that way.  Ya'll don't mind do you?
My sauce is different every time I make it.  I don't measure anything.  The first time I made spaghetti sauce, I made baked spaghetti using Paula Deen's recipe.  I have adapted it over the years.

My pot would only hold eight cans of organic tomato sauce.  Sometimes I use puree, it doesn't really matter.  Next time I would love to use fresh organic tomatoes, but unfortunately I have a black thumb and kill everything I try to grow.  Put all the cans in your pot.

I like to use a green bell pepper and either a yellow or red bell pepper.  The green one was very big so I only used half since green has such a strong flavor.  I used about half a bulb of garlic and a little more then half of that onion.  We like lots of garlic but not very much onion.  Sometimes I will also roast a garlic while the sauce is cooking and add it also. 

Normally I would put it all in the blender with some of the sauce, but my blender is an attachment to my mixer which is at the repair shop right now.  I used my chopper instead which got it pretty fine.  My husband likes to pretend that there are not any veggies in my sauce, so no chunks allowed.

I really don't measure, but use about a tablespoon of Italian seasoning (I get mine from the bulk section at Central Market or Whole Foods), about a tablespoon of pizza seasoning (we love the all-natural Frontier brand, this was also bought at Whole Foods), depending on the size of the bay leaves 2-4.  Remember to take the bay leaves out at the end.  About 1-2 teaspoons salt.  You don't want to over salt, I did that once.  You can always add more salt at the end of your cooking time.  A tablespoon of sugar, I use palm sugar. 

I love my garlic press!  I hate chopping garlic, but my chopper would do a good job also.  I usually throw the garlic in the blender with everything else, the blender makes the process a lot faster!

Simmer on low for about three hours, stirring frequently.  I used a wooden spoon since my pot has an enamel coating.  Don't you just love the green?  After about 3 hours (the long cooking process allows all the flavors to meld and you no longer have the tomato taste).  Be sure to taste it and see if you need any more seasonings.  If you are going to be canning it, add about a tablespoon or so of lemon juice?  This was my first time and I guessed, it needs the higher acid content for water bath canning.

My stock pot was too short and small, so I could only can fit three pint size jars.  See the mess I made?  After I started the water bath canning, I added a pound of hamburger meat. 

You need a pressure canner to process meat, which I do not have.  I need to cook the meat sauce for another 30 minutes at least, but I cooked it for another hour.  I then filled two quart size jars.  After they cool down, one will go in the freezer and the other will go in the fridge.

I let them boil for 35 minutes and then pulled them out.  The lids started popping as soon as I pulled them out!  YEAH!  (Update: My husband likes for me to add a pound of hamburger meat for the last 30 min. to an hour of cooking.  When I do I have to can it in a pressure canner.)

With the sauce still left in your pot, make a batch of spaghetti for supper that night!  Don't forget to add the grated Parmesan cheese on top.  Oh, and if you try to serve this much spaghetti to your husband, expect to hear him complain for a bigger portion!