My Italian Heritage - and an addition to the spaghetti sauce recipe

I received the nicest email from a fellow blogger about my "jazzed-up" emergency spaghetti sauce from a jar! Thought I'd share her suggestions here:

"Other additions to throw into a jar of sauce at the last minute:
Frozen spinach, frozen meatballs (may need to defrost first) roasted red peppers, cream, wine, smoked sausage, kielbasa, pine nuts, onion slices mixed in olive oil or saute until carmelized."

Thanks Lauren!

I promise to post my mom's sauce recipe soon, too. She was Italian and a fabulous chef!

Speaking of my Italian heritage, I thought I'd post a photo of my great-grandparents. They are my mother's mother's parents and came over from Italy around the early 1900's.

Leaning against the chair is what looks like a brace of some sort. Perhaps with wheels? It's not part of the chair and we can't even begin to guess what it is. Does anybody know? On the back of the photo, it has my great-grandparent's names and "deceased child" and "Uncle Mel" -- Uncle Mel later became a Catholic priest. I don't know which boy is which.and was told that the child who passed away may have died from diptheria...
 

My great-grandparents, Domenico Mastroianni and Mariantonia Perretta Mastroianni, and their first two children. Guessing this is from the late 1800's or early 1900's

The Mastroianni's with more of their children.
My grandmother, Angelina, (born in 1912) is the little girl standing in the front.

 

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Easy Easy Spaghetti Sauce

I posted my My First Tablescape yesterday (still doing the happy dance!) and promised to post the easy spaghetti sauce recipe today. This is one of those recipes that I always have the ingredients kept on hand, as it can be made in record time when needed but tastes even better if it can simmer on the stove for awhile.

My favorite spaghetti sauce is homemade... my mother's recipe. This is not that recipe. LOL

Here is the cast:

Yup, that's it.

Any type of spaghetti sauce can be used but I will only use Newman's Own Fra Diavolo. Only one grocery store in my area carries it and I usually buy eight jars at a time. It does say 'Hot and Spicy' on the jar and yes, there is a bit of a kick to it, but I don't think it's hot or spicy really... My family does like hot and spicy food though, so if you don't this might not work for you if you don't. (But a secret -- one of our friends will not touch anything that is a step above bland -- and yet he loves this spaghetti sauce recipe and has never said a word. I don't let him see the jars.)

So continuing with the easy recipe...

Brown 1 pound of Italian sausage or ground beef. I only had ground beef on hand when I made this but prefer sausage or a combination of both. Be sure and season the meat while browning. Garlic pepper is my favorite seasoning and I use it on many things.

The best thing ever invented for ground beef is the Amazing Handy-Dandy Hamburger Chopper. Does anybody have one of these? It's from Pampered Chef and its real name is called the 'Mix N Chop.' I absolutely love this thing and it can be used with nonstick cookware, too. Last year, I was finally invited to a Pampered Chef party and I couldn't wait to go and order one. No more chunks of meat -- I stand there and chop, chop, chop until it is perfect.

After the meat is browned, I add in my can of drained mushrooms and drained sliced olives. You can use anything you want really. I just like mushrooms and olives so much I'd probably enjoy them in cake frosting. Well, almost. I've added various things over the years, but now I just stick with mushrooms and olives.

Mix the browned meat, olives and mushrooms together and then add the two jars of spaghetti sauce. I also add a bit of sugar -- about 3-4 tablespoons. One time, I accidentally put in nearly a cup of sugar. Still came out great! 

Let the sauce simmer on low for as long as needed, stirring it occasionally. I prefer to let it simmer about two hours but a half hour is all that's needed.

Add spaghetti to water, cook, and serve!

I Became too busy and forgot to take a photo of the spaghetti being served or on the table -- sorry!

So that's it -- my super easy "to go" recipe! It can be doubled or tripled or even halved. Great for a crowd and easy to freeze.

Easy Spaghetti Sauce

1 lb ground beef or Italian sausage or a combination of the two
Seasoning to taste
1 - 2 cans (2.25 oz) sliced olives, drained (I use one because hubby doesn't like olives)
1 - 2 cans (4 oz) sliced mushrooms, drained (I used one large 8 oz can)
2 large jars (23.5 oz) spaghetti sauce
Sugar
Spaghetti


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