My first successful Spaghetti Sauce!!!!

Today I successfully made spaghetti sauce from scratch and oh my goodness is it delicious!!! I started by coarsely chopping about 8 cloves of garlic, 2/3 of a large carrot & 2 stalks of celery & a bell pepper (I used two small costa rican peppers since I didn't have any bells) & mixing those together. I had 17 small/ medium tomatoes to start. But did end up having to go to the store for about 10 more small (roma sized ) tomatoes.

I cut a small cross into the bottom of each & should have cored them here, but I forgot lol-so make sure you core them as it's a bit of a pain to try & remove the cores after this step, but it is possible so don't fret if you forget too ;-)

I placed the tomatoes into boiling water for about a minute--well... I was instructed about a minute, they were in there closer to four, try to keep it clsoer to a minute as they slightly over cook if you leave them in too long. Then dumped them into a colander & poured cold water over them. Then peel them & dice them, removing the seeds. If you like, you can do this over a bowl to trap the juice/water from the tomatoes in case your sauce is too thick near the end, you can add some of this to thin it out. I have frozen veggie stock cubes I would have been able to use to thin if I needed to ;-)

While you're peeling these, you will want to cook the diced garlic/celery/carrot/pepper mixture along with diced onions if you like (I used half a sweet yellow onion, a pretty large one) I forgot to take a pic of this step X( sorry folks.. anyhoo, then mix this cooked veggie mix and the diced tomatoes in a large pot & use a potato masher (or your hands, my sister likes to use her hands & I admit I think I will next time too, I had done that before & I like the way it mashes them better)

Add any italian type seasonings you like, I have a mc cormicks italian mix I like, I also added some extra oregano & basil, and some fresh chopped parsley. One day, when Matt & I have our home and garden, I will have all fresh seasonings to add--yummy!!!

let that simmer for about an hour. Then if you like, you can cook some mushrooms, I also cooked some zucchini in a bit of butter & italian seasonings

Once those are just about half way cooked, just starting to soften, mix them in with your sauce

I literally let this simmer on the stove for about 3 hours to let it reduce & thus thicken up & I am so glad I did because it came out so delicious!! During the last hour of cooking, I added a good amount (adjust to your preference so specific measurements are not needed here)of coarse sea salt, a touch of pepper & a few tablespoons of white granulated sugar to sweeten.

This came out so incredibly delicious! So hearty & robust yet also sweet!! I will let it sit in the fridge over night & tomorrow I will cook up some ground turkey with some italian seasonings & pour it over some pasta to try it out!! If you don't want to let it simmer for hours on the stove, adding a can or two of tomato paste will thicken it also. I did not come up with this on my own lol!! Between the advice of my 'not' older sister & my friend Jade, I finally have spaghetti sauce! Thanx ladies for your help!!! I am so glad I have such experienced people in my kitchen corner to help me out ;-D

Today's fabulous juice!!!

Today's juice consists of an apple(boron, cellulose, pectin), pear (vitamin C, E & Potassium), peach (boron, antioxidants, Vitamin C & beta carotene), 3 kiwis (fiber, vitamin E &K, potassium & copper), 2 oranges (natural aspirin and boron), sweet potato (vitamin c, calcium, folate, potassium & beta carotene) & ginger root (bitamin B, potassium, magnesium, manganese & natural anti inflammatory). Made about 38oz of juice that tasted a bit like a peach orange smoothie :) the sweet potato ads a nice creaminess to it. With just a touch of a bite from the ginger root =)

Latest project :)

Tonight I finished the puzzle that Matt got me for my birthday :) 1000 piece puzzle of the Hogwarts Castle From the Harry Potter series. And believe it or not--the cats didn't lose any of my pieces!! There are two that ended up with bite marks o.O but, eh... could have been worse lol!

Giving the frozen yogurt craze a shot ;-D

I keep hearing how delicious this frozen yogurt is, so I'm giving it a go for the first time! I like to let it set out for 20-30 mins to soften (not sure what it is but I prefer that to sticking it in the nooker to soften) so we shall see in a bit ;-)

Stormeh Kitteh!!

This is Stormeh!! The little kitten Matt rescued from a storm drain near his home a couple of weeks ago =D (s)he is sooooo stinking cute!!! Not sure if it's a little boy or girl yet because still too shy for Matt to get a hold of & take a good look. Just now  coming around to play and approach Matt :) So very adorable!!

Chicken & mushroom in Alfredo sauce served over spaghetti squash!!

For late lunch/ early dinner (although it is actually dinner time lol) I made chicken Alfredo on top of spaghetti squash!! I boiled the squash this time, usually I bake it. I like it either way and both are pretty easy, I find it's easier to cut into the squash after it's boiled where as when you bake it you cut it in half first & scoop the seeds-which the seeds are easier to scoop without losing flesh of squash when it's raw. I then made home made Alfredo sauce, took about a quarter cup of butter & melted that on a med low heat, then added about a cup of heavy cream & let that simmer about 5mins, just starting to bubble a bit. I then added  one clove of freshly chopped garlic & a quarter cup of freshly chopped parsley & let that cook for about 2 mins. I had cooked a breast of chicken in another pan & diced it up and then added it to the sauce after that couple mins. While this simmered for a couple mins, I cooked about three mushrooms, sliced, in about a tbsp of butter & then added them to the sauce also. I added about a half a cup of milk to thin the sauce just a touch then served it over the squash! It was one of the BEST things I've ever eaten!! Thanx to my co worker for the idea of alfredo with chicken & mushroom over spaghetti sauce!! It was awesome and really didn't require that much work! I made extra work for myself by making the sauce from scratch lol, if you don't do that it is even less work ;-) let me know if you try it & what you think!!!

Today's juice!! And all of the nutrients that are in each ingredient :)

Today's juice! Consists of spinach(antioxidants, potassium, iron, calcium & vitamin c), Parsley ( antioxidants, folic acid, iron, vitamin A & C), kale, (antioxidants, calcium, iron, Vitamin A & C), apple (boron, cellulose, pectin), beet ( (folic acid, iron, calcium, potassium), broccoli ( beta carotene, vitamin C, calcium, iron, folic acid & chromium), carrot ( beta carotene, vitamin A, C, pectin, fluorine, potassium), tomato ( beta carotene & vitamin C), lemon ( vitamin C& A, antioxidants, iron, copper, potassium & calcium), kiwi (fiber, vitamin A&K, potassium, copper), pear ( Vitamin C & E, potassium), Ginger Root ( Vitamin B, potassium, manganese, copper, magnesium, natural anti inflammatory) & celery (riboflavin, Vitamin b6, A, C & K, pantothenic acid, dietary fiber, folate, potassium, manganese). That is a whole lot of nutrients in 38 ozs of delicious juice!! I LOVE this stuff!!!