Homemade spaghetti sauce and meatballs

It's been a while since my last post mostly because I've discovered that it's hard to post recipes for things when I don't actually use one when I cook.  Most of my cooking involves adding things a pinch or dash at a time, or pouring things in until they look how I think it should.  Which is great when I'm making things for myself but not when people want to know how I did it. My mother and sister (and quite a few other people throughout the years) have threatened to set up cameras all over my kitchen so they can have a record of what I'm throwing in the pot (or mixer) so they can try to make it again.  On of the many things I make like that is my spaghetti sauce. This time I made sure to measure out the ingredients, well. . . it was more along the lines of pouring the amount of spices into my hand then transferring them to a measuring spoon, then throwing in into the pot.  And I wrote it down on a piece of paper before going on to the next spice.  If any of my friends or relatives were in the kitchen with me, I'm positive that they would have started recording it with their phone after calming down from laughing first.

Spaghetti Sauce after it's been simmering for a while

Here's the recipe that I came up with for today's sauce. Because of the way I cook it usually doesn't end up the same way twice but Johnny loves it.

1 28 oz can of Diced tomatoes
1 28 oz can of Crushed tomatoes (I used the Dole ones for both of these because they don't have any preservatives in them, at least until I get around to canning my own)
4 Roma tomatoes, sliced
I green pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 head of garlic, smashed
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon crushed red peppers
1 teaspoon parsley
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon rosemary
1/2 teaspoon ground sage
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt (or just use a small pinch, mine measured out to be 1/8t)
2 bay leaves

1 lb ground turkey (optional)  You can also use ground beef, sausage or a combination of those

Toss all the veggies in a large saucepot, add the spices and give it a good stir to combine it all. Let simmer while you fry up the meat, sirring occasionally.  Add the cooked meat to the mixture and let simmer until it's nice and hot.

While the sauce is simmering away I made the meatballs.

Turkey meatballs ready to eat

Turkey meatballs

1 lb ground turkey
1 egg
8 oz cooked spinach
1 teaspoon crushed red peppers
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon parsley flakes
1 cup breadcrumbs


Pre-heat the oven to 350F.

Add all the ingredients to a large mixing bowl and use your hands to mix it until all the ingredients are mixed together.

I like the larger meatballs so mine ended up being a little bit larger than a golf ball, similar in size to a racquetball.  I grabbed a hunk of the mixture, rolled it into a ball with my hands and dropped it into a muffin tin. I ended up with 12 meatballs, which worked out perfectly.  Popped them into the oven for approx 25 minutes (I started checking on them after 20 min and they were done when they reached a temp of 180 on my meat thermometer)

The meatballs ready to go into the oven

Fresh out of the oven

While those were baking and my sauce was simmering, I put the water on to boil for the noodles and sliced some bread for the garlic bread. Smear some butter on the bread and pour garlic powder over them to your taste (I love garlic so I use a lot on mine) and place on a baking sheet.  They only take approx 5 min in the oven at 350, so I put them in right after I pull out the meatballs and am about to drain the noodles.

A closeup of the sauce with the noodles and meatballs

Dinner's ready!!

I wouldn't recommend serving as much on the plate as I did if you have a rule in the house about cleaning your plate, it's very filling. Neither John or I managed to clean our plates so they got packed up into containers for tomorrow's lunch, plus another container that was just filled with the leftover sauce. That one went into the freezer for a day where I just don't feel like cooking, lol.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we did,

Jessa