My spaghetti sauce

I'm kinda proud of this recipe. I created it ALL BY MYSELF. Well, kinda.

I think I feel a story coming on-

Several years ago a friend invited me to a "Homemade Gourmet" party. That's one of those "parties" where it's not so much a party as it a way to get your friends to come over and buy stuff. While I had been to a bunch of other parties like this, this one was new to me. New to Arizona in fact. The distributor selling the stuff did so over the phone from her home in Texas. It was a company that sold food mixes. The concept being to simplify cooking. I bought a couple things and went home. A short while later the girl that had the party came knocking on my door (I think to deliver my order) and the weird thing was she was practically begging me to join the company so I could sell this stuff to her. After much consideration, I signed up, paid a bunch of money for a starter kit, and food for samples and stuff, and started my own "business". I figured that it might not be such a bad thing if I was the first distributor in the area ("ground floor") and I actually had someone begging me to sell her stuff.

It only lasted a year or two. The logic was sound, but the practicallity of the whole thing just didn't work well for me. For starters I had to keep so much stock on hand. I actually bought storage racks to keep in my bedroom for all those mixes. And I am SO not a salesperson. I hate calling my friends and bugging them month after month to see if they'd like to place an order. Plus it was kind of expensive and most of my friends had tight food budgets. I had sunk more money into it than I could ever hope to make up, and then when we moved to a new neighborhood the prospect of starting over and bugging my new friends didn't sound that appealing. I did try once, but it was so much work, that it totally wasn't worth it. Finally it had been so long since I had made a "qualifying order" from the company, that I wasn't an active distributor anymore and couldn't order anything without buying another starter kit.

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't all that terrible. Some of the concepts were good. The whole point was to make cooking easier, and they promoted things like "cook once, serve twice" you know, spaghetti one night, meatball sandwiches another. They even had this whole thirty day meal plan where they outline step by step the exact process by which you spend two whole days cooking all the meals for a whole month, then all you have to do is defrost and heat. And I loved some of the mixes. Some weren't all that good. But some were down right yummy. I'd buy stuff somewhat regularly if a distributor lived down the street from me. Unfortunately there are still none in AZ, at least the last time I checked.

Fortunately I've been able to adapt a couple of recipes to get the same effect. My chocolate chip cookies transform nicely into their White Chocolate Cran Orange Cookies. I'm still looking for the perfect potato soup recipe. But the one I am most proud of is my spaghetti sauce. The stuff in the jar just wasn't doing it for me any more. My problem was was that the secret ingredient is dried roasted bell peppers. I checked my local grocery store, but didn't seem to be able to find what I was looking for. Maybe I just need to find a different grocery store like AJ's or Trader Joes. I did however, find exactly what I needed on the internet! For like $4 a tub, I got my dried roasted bell peppers. The flakes are a little big but that is easily remedied with a ziploc baggie and the flat side of my meat tenderizer.

I experimented with the ingredients until I got it just right, luckily for me they have to list most of the ingredients they use on the label, but I had to interpret "other spices" as basil, parsley, oregano, and pepper. (Is this illegal to do? ) Nick says mine is better, though. That kid is always quick with the compliments for me.

so, in all it's glory, ta-da!

Kirsten's Spaghetti Sauce

6 oz can tomato paste

15 oz can tomato sauce

2 cups water

1 lb cooked hamburger (optional)

1 TBS sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cornstarch

1 TBS minced onion

1 TBS dried roasted bell pepper flakes

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp basil

1 tsp parsley

1 tsp oregano

fresh ground pepper to taste.

In 4 qt sauce pan combine water, tomato sauce and tomato paste.

Mix together dry ingredients, then add to sauce pan. (I usually stir together the sugar, salt, and cornstarch thoroughly first, so the cornstarch doesn't clump in the sauce pan).

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 20-30 minutes. Add cooked hamburger (optional) and heat 5 more minutes.