My Recipe Box: Spaghetti Sauce

Where’s the beef?

One of my favorite recipes to make is Spaghetti. This was the first dish I made for my husband and  his family. We had only been dating for a few weeks, I had already meet his parents and grandmother. So I offered to come over and make everyone dinner.

I bought everything for this dish and brought it over to the Johnson’s home. As I began to cook this meal, Bill kept coming in the kitchen to see if I needed help, and I simply informed him I got this.

Bill was looking over the ingredients I brought and leaned over to me and asked ‘where’s the beef?’.

I let him know that I don’t use any meat product in my spaghetti. Only fresh vegetables, herbs and a tomato bass sauce.  Then he walked out of the kitchen without saying a word.

So I finished preparing the meal and let the family know that dinner was ready.

Marianne (Bill’s mom) came in the kitchen and dished up Ted’s (Bill’s dad) and her plate. She thanked me for making dinner and said nothing else. She walked the dishes back to her bedroom, where Ted was wanting for his dinner. Bill’s family is odd, they did not use the dinning room unless company was over or for holidays.

Within 5 minutes later, Marianne was back in the kitchen with both plates. She called for Bill. Ted was not going to eat the spaghetti without beef. Marianne was pulling out ground beef from the freezer to deforest and cook up for my homemade spaghetti.

Ted let Bill know that this family is ‘carnivores’ and we eat meat. Let me just add that I didn’t cook for the family for a few months after that. The family did later thank me for the attempt to making dinner and the spaghetti sauce was rich in flavor. Also, back then (20 years ago) I did not care to eat meat.

Due to this little attempt to make the Johnson Family a homemade spaghetti dinner, I have added meatballs or ground sausage to my dish.

Spaghetti is one of those recipes that you can change up to fit your desired taste. Just make sure if you are cooking for ‘carnivores’, you add the meat.

My Recipe Box: Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

• 1 can Tomato Sauce (15 oz)
• 1 can Stewed Tomatoes (
• 1 can Tomato Paste (6 oz)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 2 cups of mushrooms, sliced
• 3 to 4 stalks of celery, chopped
• 1/4 cup of butter
• 1 teaspoon of garlic salt
• 1 teaspoon of parsley flakes (or you can use fresh parsley)
• Cooked Meatballs or Ground Sausage (optional)

1. Melt butter in skillet, began to add fresh vegetables and seasoning to skillet.
2. While sauteing the vegetables, open up all the cans and place in pot and place over a low heat.
3. Once all the vegetables are cooked and smelling so good, add to the pot with the tomato sauce. Cook over low heat until it begins to bubble. Make sure you stir occasional to prevent sticking to the bottom of the pot.
4. Add desired cooked meatballs or ground sausage at this time. And simply serve hot over cooked paste. Oh, you can’t forget the garlic bread. I love any type of bread. Enjoy!