Khandi's Spaghetti Sauce

Khandi Howard's Note:

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.

• Total Time: 2 hrs 45 mins
• Prep Time: 45 mins
• Cook Time: 2 hrs

Ingredients:

Yield: 36 cups

• 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.