Almost Spaghetti Food

ALMOST SPAGHETTI

Steps:

• Cut spaghetti squash in half length wise. Scoop out seeds and disgard. Place in 2 quart dish cut side down. Pour small amount of water in bottom of dish. Cover the whole dish with plastic wrap. Microwave on high for 6-10 minutes. Take out of microwave and remove the "spaghetti noodles" from the squash by using a fork and scraping the inside of the vegetable.Put in serving bowl.
• Brown turkey burger in small skillet with red onion.
• Drain mushrooms and add to burger.
• Pour spaghetti sauce on top of burger mixture and stir together.Cook until the mixture is hot.
• Dump meat sauce on top of spaghetti squash.
• Top with cheddar cheese.

ALMOST HOMEMADE ZUCCHINI SPAGHETTI SAUCE

Steps:

• Take sausage out of skin and brown in a large pot like hamburger meat.
• Add chopped onions, peppers, celery, tomato and garlic. simmer until onions are clearing.
• Add the spices and zucchini, simmer until zucchini are cooked.
• Check and adjust spices, then add the store bought sauce to the mixture. There is no need to cook further, but letting the sauce steep will meld the flavors.
• Serve over pasta or manicotti with fresh grated Parmesan.

ALMOST FRESH SPAGHETTI SAUCE

Steps:

• First of all prepare the vegetables and have them ready before starting the next step. The garlic should be finely chopped (I use an Ulu knife for this). The onion should be corsely chopped (1/4" strips about 1/2" to 3/4" long). The green pepper should be chopped into pieces roughly 1/3" square. Puree the fresh Roma tomatoes in a blender.
• Almost as important as the fresh vegetables is the sweating of the garlic and onion. Heat the olive oil in a pan on medium heat. Put the garlic and onion into the pan and stir constantly with a wooden spoon for 2 to 3 minutes. Be very careful to watch the temperature. The garlic has a propensity to burn quickly. If the garlic starts to get golden brown, throw out the whole mess and start over. If you don't have ny brown at all then you haven't cooked it enough. If you watch the temperature carefully and stir it constantly this should work fine the first time.
• Add the green pepper and the Roma tomato puree to the pan and mix thoroughly. Add the cans of tomato sauce and tomato puree, the basil and oregano, and sprinkle in the black pepper. Mix thoroughly, cover, and cook on low to medium heat for 30 minutes stirring every 5 minutes or so. If the sauce is too thick, cut it with another can of tomato puree. If it is too thin then cut it with another can of tomato paste.

ALMOST HOMEMADE SPAGHETTI MEAT SAUCE WITH EXTRA TO FREEZE

Steps:

• Break up hamburger in large pot or skillet.
• Add celery and onion.
• Cover and brown hamburger over medium low heat, stirring every 5 minutes to break up the meat. Drain fat. To really eliminate as much fat as possible, rinse with hot water.
• Note: Do not heat the sauce mixture until you have placed three of the portions in freezer bags. That way you are not handling and freezing heated sauce.
• Place hamburger back in the pot and add mushrooms and sauce. Mix well.
• Start heating a separate, large pot of water for the noodles. Add a dash of salt.
• Place 3 1/2 cups of the sauce in a quart sized freezer bag and seal, squeezing out air. Repeat two times. Freeze.
• Scrape the side of the pot to consolidate and heat remaining sauce on medium low, stirring every so often.
• Prepare 1 package of the spaghetti noodles, according to the package directions, drain.
• Serve sauce over the noodles.
• This is great served with Garlic Butter Texas Toast (#159750) by KITTENCAL. I get a whole loaf of Texas Toast and double the recipe. I use 4 slices for the spaghetti and freeze the rest, separating each slice with waxed paper, to serve with future batches of the spaghetti.
• Enjoy!