Easy, Delicious Tomato Sauce

This sauce is a staple at our house, so I make it at least every week or two. It's easy, it's delicious, and you cannot find a tasty sauce like this at the store. There are two secrets to this sauce: 1) letting it simmer all. day. long. & 2) choosing a good canned tomato sauce to start with. Hunt's makes a great sauce, as well as Stokelys and RedPack. I wouldn't recommend using other brands, with the exception of organic canned tomato sauce. And as always this recipe will leave you with lots of sauce left over to use for several meals or freeze for later.

Homemade Tomato Sauce

4 29 oz. cans tomato sauce

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

4-5 cloves garlic, minced

handful fresh basil, chopped, or 1 tablespoon dried basil

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Fill the bottom of a large pot with the olive oil. And when I say fill it, I mean fill it. Make sure that entire bottom is covered and then some. Remember, fat=flavor, and this good fat will give your sauce a lot of flavor. Trust me. Turn the burner to medium heat and warm the oil. Add the onion and cook until it begins to brown, about 5-7 minutes. Add the garlic and cook another minute or two. Add the canned tomato sauce, stir, and turn the burner up to high, stirring occasionally. Once the sauce begins to boil, turn the heat down to low and add the basil. Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for a minimum of one hour but preferably all day, if you can.

It will make quite a mess on the stove, but it's worth it! What it lacks in cleanliness it will make up for in flavor. I can say the same thing about my house, or myself, for that matter. lol

Serve it on top of some whole wheat pasta with a spinach salad.

And you can use the leftover sauce to make yummy, homemade pizzas. This whole wheat crust is delicious--I promise, you won't even know it's whole wheat!!

Vine tomatoes, ham, and onions

Enjoy!