Red Sauce a la Missie

I made pasta sauce before the ski trip and again this past weekend while Greg and I were holed up in the house with ebola. (Also known as strep throat and bronchitis)(Him, not me)

Now, keep in mind that I'm no Pioneer Woman Cooks. I don't even get to basque in the shadow of her spatula. But I made some kick ass sauce y'all!

Yeah, yeah, yeah... I didn't get any pictures of the prep. And I always clean up my cooking mess AS I COOK, because anyone who knows me, knows I'm the girl that will have all the cooking schuffs cleaned up, in the dishwasher, and the counters wiped down before I sit down to eat.

Cause that's just how I roll.

Here's what you'll need:

2 cans of pasta sauce - plain - no spices or anything
3 bell peppers - red, yellow, orange
oregano
parsley
basil
marjoram
sugar

Beef, pork or chicken of some sort. I used Jimmy Dean's Pork Sausage (It was on sale, 2 for $6)


So the red sauce:

I started with 2 cans of Hunts Pasta Sauce - the plain Jane version.

You can use tomatoes and stew them, but I didn't have time. Or the energy. I just wanted some yummy pasta sauce, dammit!

In a large sauce pot, I warmed the pasta sauce up for about 10 minutes.

I then added fresh Basil, Parsley and Oregano. (when I made this on Sunday, I used Marjoram and Cilantro too) Oh, and celery leaf!

You can totally use the jarred stuff, I just wanted to be fancy.

*Don't forget to taste your work as you go along!*

Let that simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.



In a separate pot:

Brown your meat SLOWLY, letting all the flavors come out. I don't add any seasonings to the meat at all.

Back to your sauce:

It's starting to smell good and look REALLY yummy right about now. But we've got some more to go.



Then add in 1/4 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of dried parmesean cheese (from the shaker)

Then I added in about 1/2 a ball of fresh mozzerlla cheese. (Cut into chunks)

You can see it all gooey and melty here:



Again, *Don't forget to taste your work as you go along!*

Then I added red, yellow and orange bell peppers. Chopped as big or small as you like them.

The secret is to add in the sugar. And also let it cook for a while.

Then add in the beef and turn the stove down to a very low simmer. Go do some housework or watch some TiVo. Remember to stir it every so often. Or do what I did and run errands, reminding your boy to stir it every once in a while until you get home to stir it some more.



Oh yeah, and this last time, I cut up zucchini into leetle pieces and threw that in there right away. I love zucchini, and you may not. But it added a really garden-esque element to the sauce. Yummers!

Eat or Freeze. I use the Ziplock twist and seal containers because you can freeze a twofer or a family sized portion. And I get them free from Jeni. :)

Did I mention? *Don't forget to taste your work as you go along!*

Enjoy! I didn't hear any complaints on the ski trip and Greg seems to like it, so it's all good! Let me know if you make it and what you change. I'm always looking for ways to spice it up a bit!

Makes a bunch, feeds a ton.