my mom's spaghetti

(please bear with me as I learn to use blogger and the picture editing apps... I can't get my watermark the same size yet. carry on.)  

My mom makes the best spaghetti sauce I've ever had. We make it from scratch, by eye, taste, and instinct. Feel free to tweak it to your taste.

• 24 ounce can of Newman's Own Tomato & Basil 
• 24 ounce can of Del Monte Traditional Spaghetti Sauce (it might be called pasta sauce now...) 
• 8 ounce can of Del Monte tomato sauce 
• regular sized can of Del Monte chopped tomato & basil  

Add the Newman's Own, the traditional spaghetti sauce, and the tomato sauce to the crock pot (on high). Drain the chopped tomato & basil into the crock pot and then chop the tomato pieces into smaller pieces. It just makes it easier to eat. Add it to the crock pot.

• green pepper, chopped 
• 1 package, button mushrooms, sliced  
• small yellow onion, sliced 
• 3-4 large garlic cloves, peeled 

Now you start adding vegetables. Do a rough chop on the green pepper, slice the mushrooms to your liking (we pretty much cut them into four slices so that I can pick them out if I want to), and slice the onion. Peel the garlic cloves and just slice them a little bit down the middle. We pull out the garlic after it's done cooking, so we want them visible. Then, per usual, throw it all into the crock pot.

(lol at the watermark getting smaller and smaller...)

• Italian sausage 
• ground beef 

We use one package of Italian sausage and about a pound of ground beef. If you don't like one, use more of the other. We boil the sausage, drain it, chop it, fry it, and then toss it in the crock pot.

My mom recommends using the "best ground beef you can". We use 93%/7%. It makes it easier to clean up and requires no draining. Brown the ground meet, using a little bit of garlic salt and a few dashes of pepper for flavor. Transfer it into a shallow bowl, pat it with a paper towel to remove excess grease, and then add to the crock pot. Stir it all up.

• about 1/2 teaspoon of oregano (we cover the top of the crock pot) 
• a little bit of dried basil (in the making the sauce this time, we didn't have the chopped tomato & basil from a can... so we used extra of this) 

These can be added at any time. Seriously. Just add and stir. 

Now you leave it alone. This is probably the hardest part because it starts to smell wonderful. We keep it on high for 4-6 hours (or low for 6-8).
If you're going to add wine, add it about half an hour before it's done. We add wine and parmesan cheese, but both of these things are done on a whim so just kind of wing it to your taste. (So helpful, I know. We took half of the sauce out just in case the wine didn't work, and then added a quarter of a cup of wine and the same amount of parmesan cheese to the sauce. Let it simmer for about 30 minutes. It was good! I didn't really taste the wine in it, so there's that.)
Once it's done, remember to fish the garlic out. We generally count how many pieces we put in, and then make sure that many come out.

Enjoy!

I also make gluten free garlic bread. It makes me happy.

If you have leftovers (we always do), let it cool and then put it into zip lock bags and freeze. My mom suggests freezing it in single or 2 serving portions, so that you only have to defrost what you want. It saves and reheats perfectly. 

Also, we make a second batch of Italian sausage once we've eaten the first helping and add it to the crock pot as it's cooling. That way, we have sausage for the second round! (: We do that because I'm lazy and I don't want to make more sausage every time I want spaghetti, but you can do that if you want. 

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The following is the recipe written straight - without pictures (: If you've read the top part, this is literally condensing it and putting it in a recipe format.

My Mom's Spaghetti

Ingredients:

• 24 ounce can of Newman's Own Tomato & Basil 
• 24 ounce can of Del Monte Traditional Spaghetti Sauce (it might be called pasta sauce now...) 
• 8 ounce can of Del Monte tomato sauce   
• regular sized can of Del Monte chopped tomato & basil  
• green pepper, chopped 
• 1 package, button mushrooms, sliced 
• small yellow onion, sliced 
• 3-4 large garlic cloves, peeled 
• Italian sausage 
• ground beef 
• a little bit of garlic salt (for ground beef) 
• a few dashes of pepper (for ground beef) 
• about 1/2 teaspoon of oregano (we cover the top of the crock pot) 
• a little bit of dried basil (in the making the sauce this time, we didn't have the chopped tomato & basil from a can... so we used extra of this) 

1. Add the Newman's Own, the traditional spaghetti sauce, and the tomato sauce to the crock pot (on high). Drain the chopped tomato & basil into the crock pot and then chop the tomato pieces into smaller pieces. It just makes it easier to eat. Add it to the crock pot. 
2. Now you start adding vegetables. Do a rough chop on the green pepper, slice the mushrooms to your liking (we pretty much cut them into four slices so that I can pick them out if I want to), and slice the onion.  Peel the garlic cloves and just slice them a little bit down the middle. We pull out the garlic after it's done cooking, so we want them visible. Then, per usual, throw it all into the crock pot. 
3. We use one package of Italian sausage and about a pound of ground beef. If you don't like one, use more of the other. We boil the sausage, drain it, chop it, fry it, and then toss it in the crock pot. 
4. Boil the sausage, drain it, chop it, fry it, and then toss it in the crock pot. Brown the ground beef, adding a few dashes of garlic salt and pepper for taste. Transfer it into a shallow bowl, pat it with a paper towel to remove excess grease, and then add to the crock pot. Stir it all up. 
5. Add the oregano and basil. These can be added at any time. Seriously. Just add and stir. 
6. Let it simmer on high for about 4-6 hours or low for 6-8 hours. Remember not to open the lid too often, or you lose the heat. 
7. Make garlic bread and pasta and enjoy!