Khandi's Spaghetti Sauce

Submitted by Khandi Howard

"This is a full flavored sauce - one of my family's favorites. It makes a lot of sauce. I always freeze it in zip-locks to make spaghetti or I use it to make the best lasagna ever (also posted). You can use this sauce with great success over frozen store-bought ravioli, tortelini or stuffed shells. This makes about 4 gallons of sauce. The prep time varies. I usually use a food processor to cut down on chopping time. Cook time also varies. I usually let the sauce cook for several hours the day I make it, but would suggest letting simmer at least 2 hours on low. To use from the freezer, just cut out of freezer bag and microwave until hot. Or warm on stove."

 

• Ready In: 2hrs 45mins
• Ingredients: 10
• Yields: 36 cups

ingredients

• 4 lbs ground beef, browned and drained
• 3 lbs ground Italian sausage, browned and drained
• 4 onions, chopped
• 6 cans mushrooms, drained or 2 lbs fresh mushrooms, sauteed
• 7 (26 ounce) jars spaghetti sauce (Approx. see note below)
• 3 (26 ounce) cans tomatoes, diced
• 1 cup chopped bell pepper (I have them frozen)
• 1 (12 ounce) can tomato paste
• italian seasoning (I used about 4 to 5 tablespoons – adjust to taste)
• crushed red pepper flakes (to taste – I used a couple of teaspoons – we like it spicy)

directions

1. Brown beef, onions, peppers, sausage and Italian seasoning.
2. Drain well.
3. Put in stock pot, add mushrooms, sauce, tomatoes, tomato paste, and remaining seasoning, simmer for a long, long time.
4. Freeze in freezer bags (put 3, 4 or 5 cups sauce per bag).
5. ***I’vefound that Hunt’s works great.
6. It is cheaper than some of the others and it made the best sauce ever.
7. I used the roasted garlic variety mostly and one of the others but I can’t remember which one.
8. I think that any of them would give similar results.
9. I’ve also used plain tomato sauce and increased my seasoning – but the Hunt’s turned out the tastiest.
10. ***You can substitute pan sausage for the Italian sausage and increase the Italian seasoning with little change in taste.
11. When I do this I usually use Jimmy Dean’s.