spaghetti with meat sauce

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Spaghetti with meat sauce is the ultimate comfort food for me. This is what mom almost always prepared for my birthdays when I was a kid, and when I visited home after I had moved away. This is "anticipation food", simmering away for hours, the smell pervading every room in the house. Toss together a fresh garden salad, and serve with garlic toast on the side. It really doesn't get any better than this, well, it does, but you'd have to bake a caramel cake for dessert. Sorry, I can't help you there.

1 lb. of hamburger - ground turkey or venison both work well, and are leaner and healthier
1 lb. of sausage - I've used Italian, sage, turkey, and venison sausage, they all taste good!
70 oz. of canned tomatoes - tomato sauce, whole or diced tomatoes, or any combination
5 or 6 garlic cloves, diced fine
1 or 2 onion(s), diced
2 or 3 bay leaves
Oregano, Italian seasoning, salt and red pepper flakes to taste
ketchup - a couple of good squirts
Optional:
A "palmful" of sliced mushrooms
1 bell pepper, diced

This as simple as good food gets! Brown the hamburger and sausage, and be sure and throw in the diced onions and garlic and fry them a little too. While the meat and stuff is browning, empty the cans of tomatoes into a stew pot, or crock pot, along with the ketchup and bay leaves. When browned, drain the meat, onions and garlic, and put them in the pot as well. Bring the sauce up to a boil, if using a stew pot, then simmer for several hours, stirring, adding seasonings, and tasting occasionally. In another pot, boil water for the spaghetti, with a good squirt of olive oil and a pinch of salt thrown in, and cook the spaghetti until it's as done as you like. When it's done, drain in a colander. I think you can handle it from here :-) This recipe serves 6. Enjoy!


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