Guest Post: Easy Multi-talented Marinara Sauce

This guest post comes courtesy of Brandon (it took me months to get him to finally write a post!!) It's a delicious sauce recipe, but it is going to be more of a guideline than a recipe...you can include about a million variations on this sauce. I leave all the sauce-making up to Brandon since he is AMAZING at it! We not only use this sauce for your standard pasta with marinara, but we've used it as a sauce for pizza (and for baked potato pizza bites), as a dip with pita chips, as well as on our wraps or any other dish we can possibly think up. It freezes well so we always make enough to feed a small army.

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Howdy folks! 

I am happy to have been so inspired by Rebecca's capacity to efficiently blog about life and FOOD, that I am now writing my first food blog!  YEEHAAW! 

I've been making sauce since I lived on Mayberry over 3-4 years ago.  It is my favorite "family meal."  Sauce is easy to make for large quantities of family and friends. 

Lets talk about sauce!

Start with crushing and and chopping the garlic. 

Then finely chop a delicious onion.

Put both onions and garlic into the large pot, that you will be simmering your sauce in, and saute' them til your heart is content. 

Then add (my favorite to use) the "Traditional" Prego sauce...aka very bland, but nice and thick.  Why do I choose a very bland sauce?  So I can spice it myself of course!  We'll talk about spices in a moment.  Now, lets talk about all the delicious veggies to include in your sauce. 

You can choose any/all of your favorite veggies, or use whatever you have leftover in the refrigerator.  I generally slice all the veggies into nice bite-sized pieces. Here is what Becca and I used:

Green Pepper

 

 Red Pepper

Fresh red tomatoes diced for texture 

Carrots, mushrooms and broccoli.  Sorry, no pictures of these veggies, but here is a fun one (cause cooking is fun!)

Once all of your fresh veggies have been chopped, sliced and diced, ad them to your sauce and let simmer for a good 30-45 minutes, stirring occasionally.  

While the sauce is simmering, you can jazz it up with your favorite spices!  I generally use basil, oregano, thyme, salt/pepper and, as Becca and I enjoy spicy foods, red pepper flakes.  AND, the one "lucky" bay leaf!  Whomever gets the lucky bay leaf in their meal, will be just that....LUCKY!

Generally I try and let the sauce sit (in the fridge is fine) for a day, so all the flavors can marry together,  but I've also had it for dinner that night!  Tis good no matter what!

I love making this sauce, as it can be used for many things.  The most obvious is pasta!

It also makes a quick and delicious pizza!  All you need is dough (you can ask Becca how to make dough) and your favorite cheese!  

I also really enjoy using the sauce for dipping my tortilla chips in (chips and salsa is generally my "go to" snack....sorry no picture).

Thanks so much for your interest in my special sauce!  Remember, be creative with it and HAVE FUN!