Italian Spaghetti Sauce

Oh, this is so good and I try to always have some in the freezer! My girls know this as Noni's spaghetti sauce because this was her recipe.

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Yields approximately 5 quarts

Ingredients:

1 onion, diced
6-8 garlic cloves, chopped finely
olive oil (enough to cover bottom of frying pan)
3 cans (29 oz.) crushed tomatoes
2 cans (29 oz.) diced tomatoes (drain off liquid)
1 - 15 oz. can tomato sauce
2 - 6oz. cans tomato paste
2 ½ lbs. cooked hamburger (or ground turkey)
2 ½ lbs. cooked hot or regular Italian sausage (Italian turkey sausage works good, too!)
1 ½ cups red wine
1 TBSP dried oregano
2 TBSP dried Italian seasoning
2 TBSP dried basil
crushed red pepper flakes (I use probably 3 good Tablespoons)
fresh basil, chopped
fresh Italian parsley (flat leaf), chopped
salt & pepper

NOTE: I use a very large stock pot. If you do not have a pot big enough, it’s best to mix the ingredients all together while the sauces are still cold and then separate into separate pots to simmer.

Directions:

Heat oil in large frying pan, saute onion. Add garlic, red pepper flakes and dried herbs, stirring until garlic is light golden.

In LARGE stock pot, add crushed, diced and tomato sauce. Stir in tomato paste.

Add hamburger, sausage, fresh basil, fresh parsley and wine. Bring to a boil, then simmer on low (half covered) for 5-6 hours or all day. BE CAREFUL NOT TO BURN! Stir regularly to make sure that it is not sticking the bottom of the pan. Taste about 3 hours into simmering and add additional salt and/or seasonings as needed for taste. Usually a lot of salt is needed.

*We like ours spicy, but if you want it a little milder, eliminate the crushed red pepper flakes.
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FREEZING:
We usually enjoy a delicious spaghetti dinner and then I refrigerate the remaining sauce in quart jars overnight until cool. The next morning, I pour each quart jar into quart size freezer bag, label & date it, and freeze.

We use this same sauce base to make homemade lasagna and pizzas, too!

PIZZA SAUCE (alternative):We also make this sauce withOUT meat for pizza sauce. We make the batch as usual but separate out a small portion of sauce to simmer without any meat added.

EXTRAS: While simmering for your meal, consider adding in zucchini, squash, or mushrooms.