Homemade Spaghetti Sauce for a Crowd

It is Tasty Tuesday over at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam. Today I will share my Spaghetti Sauce Recipe that I have been using for quite some time. Someone asked for it a while back so I am finally getting around to it. The original recipe came from Once-A-Month Cooking, but I have changed it to the way my family prefers.

2 lbs lean ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
2, 15 oz cans Tomato Sauce
4, 28 oz cans Crushed Tomatoes
5 Teaspoons Minced Garlic
8 Bay Leaves
3 Tablespoons Sugar
5 teaspoons dried basil
3 teaspoon dried Oregano
5 tablespoon dried Parsley
2 teaspoons salt

• Cook ground beef, rinse and drain.
• Add all ingredients
• Bring to a boil
• Simmer on med/low for at least 2 hours.

There, you have enough sauce for a crowd. I usually freeze quart packages for us, or make lasagna with the sauce. I have also used this to make a type of Spaghetti Casserole. Adding one small can of tomato paste will thicken it up for lasagna. Make adjustments as your family prefers, for instance yesterday I had no oregano, so added only 1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning. Only had about 2 teaspoons of garlic, so that is what went in. You can add more onions, mushrooms, and I have even added zucchini. This sauce does not seem to have the acid taste that the canned and jar sauces seem to have. Hope you enjoy, now I've got to go freeze the remainder of sauce that I made yesterday. Jackie