Amazingly EASY Spaghetti Sauce

I love my quaint little backyard. I've tried to eat on the patio more regularly now that it's much cooler outside, however that also means it's a lot darker. Fortunately, I recruited a strapping, young and creative man to help me rig up some patio lights so we could actually see what delicious food we were eating. 

To break in my newly lit patio, I made a delicious spaghetti sauce and served it over some zoodles (zucchinis cut into noodles)! It made for a perfect, fall evening. This sauce is so tasty and so easy to make. 

Jarred spaghetti sauce??? Bahahaha how silly. 

 Ingredients

1 large yellow onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 chili peppers (or red chili flakes for heat!)

2 Tbsp Italian Seasoning
A few sprigs of fresh rosemary (or 1 Tbsp minced)
1 Tbsp parsley
1/2 Tbsp oregano
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper

A handful of fresh basil, chopped

28 oz can of diced tomatoes
15 oz can of tomato sauce
15 oz can of diced tomatoes
8 oz can of tomato paste

1/2 red (or green) bell pepper, diced

Bella mushrooms, chopped once in half


Directions

1. Sautee the onions and garlic (and chili peppers) in a very large frying pan or sauce pot. (I have a bomb sauce pan that I use for everything.) Add in the *dry* spices and mix all together over medium heat. I am pretty "willy-nilly" with my spices. DON'T BE AFRAID OF THEM! Add in the spices then taste your sauce after a while. Add more if you think it's necessary.

**Side note** 
A cook should always always taste their food as they are cooking! And NEVER be afraid of adding spices. Spices make a dish. 

(And now we return to your regularly scheduled blog entry)

2. Add in the cans of tomatoes and bell peppers. Keep stirring until the onions are well mixed into the sauce. Drop in a bay leaf.

3. Add in the basil and mushrooms. Then, put the lid on the pan/pot and let the sauce come to a simmer.

4. At this point you can let the sauce cook for a while over medium low heat to let all the flavors mingle. I added in my diced chicken to let that soak up some of the yummy tomato sauce flavor. I'd say I let my sauce simmer for 30 minutes, stirring every now and then and making sure it didn't come to a crazy out-of-control boil!

5. I served the sauce over zoodles! but regular wheat noodles would be just as good.

Ready to dig in! :) 

Roll With It - Truck Bed Style

Friday afternoon, Ted and I decided to pack up his truck and go up to Mt. Lemmon to camp. And even though we go there in the pitch black, we couldn't have had a more wonderful time. Sometimes it's fun to be spontaneous. And this was definitely a moment when I appreciated spontaneity to its fullest.  

We rolled into our (RV Only ...whoops) camping spot in Molino Basin just as the twilight faded to night. We quickly unpacked, blew up the (totally awesome and worth it) truck bed air mattress, broke out the zero-G chairs and lounged under the stars a bit before we started cooking dinner. 

I guess I couldn't take a picture of the top of our heads. It's so weird... I had such a good hair-do too... 

We had pre-made some chicken burgers and home made guacamole before getting on the road, which made grilling up dinner quick and easy. And since we had no quick access to a camping stove, we just brought the whole grill with us! It worked like a charm. Cooked the veggies, beans and burgers like nothing! 

I forgot plates. Improvisation is sometimes needed when you're camping.

And what camping event would be complete without some S'mores! (with dark chocolate, of course)

 

After sleeping under 6 blankets and 3 layers of clothing all night under a (basically) full moon, we woke up to the beautiful Basin rolling out in front of us. 

In no time we had water boiling for coffee, bacon in the skillet and pancakes fluffing on the grill pan.