I was making dinner last night, just a simple spaghetti for the three of us adults as the kids were all out for the evening. While I was pulling together the ingredients from the pantry, I was thinking about how satisfying it is to be able to cook with things I put up from the garden last summer. And about what goes into our cooking pots and ultimately into our bodies. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a health nut. My kids (and me, and Dad) eat things that they probably shouldn’t. But I do try to practice moderation in that. Too much is not good for them, and the more I can feed my family off the farm, the better control I have over their health.
Take this pot of spaghetti. I can’t control the pasta. We don’t grow wheat, and although we may in the future, chances are I won’t be using it to make pasta from. I just don’t have the time. And I can’t afford it, when a pound box of noodles is less than a dollar. But I can control the tomato sauce. I made this quart I put in the pot myself, out of the greenhouse full of tomatoes we grew last year. Every one of those lush red beauties was a handful of distilled goodness made of sunshine and soil. Tomato sauce is incredibly easy to make and put up, so I did a lot of it, knowing my family would eat it up. And I can control the sausage. The pound that went in my pot tonight was store bought, but this time next year I expect to have a freezer full of sausage and other choice bits from the pigs. I can grow onions, and most of the spices, and the garlic…
So in a nutshell, I mixed up a pot full of sunshine last night for dinner, and it was so good we ate it all!
Spaghetti Sauce
Brown in a heavy-bottomed stockpot:
1 lb sausage or ground beef
2 tbsp chopped garlic (3-4 cloves)
1 large onion, chopped
1 tbsp italian seasoning
Once onions are translucent, add
1 qt. Tomato Sauce
If the tomato sauce is very acid (like mine) try adding 1-2 tsp of brown sugar. Simmer for at least 15 minutes. This is great if you toss it in a crockpot on low in the morning for dinner.Serve over pasta or rice with parmesan cheese.
