Aunt Glenda's Spaghetti Sauce

We have enjoyed Aunt Glenda's spaghetti sauce recipe for the last 25 years during our family vacations at the beach.  Everyone always looked forward to spaghetti night, when we would enjoy that flavorful sauce on angelhair pasta along with garlic bread and salad.   My mouth waters to just think about it.  In recent years, Aunt Glenda passed along the spaghetti night responsibility to me and I have worked to make the sauce as good as hers.  Last week, I fixed up a batch to store in the freezer so that I could have some easy meals upon going back to school.  Many people have requested this recipe, so I will share it with you now.

It is not as homemade as you might think, but it is GOOD.  Here are the ingredients:

1 large bell pepper
1 large onion
2.5-3 lbs. ground chuck
olive oil
2 large jars of spaghetti sauce
1 can tomato puree (tomato paste diluted with water if difficult to locate puree)
1 large can sliced mushrooms (drained)
Romano/Parmesan grated cheese (green bottle)
Salt to taste
3/4 cups sugar

Chop up bell pepper and onion.  Saute chopped pepper and onion in small amount of olive oil until tender--I usually cook them until they are a little brown around the edges.

  Add ground chuck and brown it with the peppers and onions.  Drain this mixture and salt it well on top.  Add mixture to crockpot/regular pot and pour 1/2 bottle of the romano/parmesan cheese onto the meat.  Add the mushrooms.  Coat the meat with the cheese and mushrooms.

Pour in jars of spaghetti sauce and add puree or paste mixture.  Stir this all together. 

If it is too thick, add some water to it--it is not supposed to be very thick.  Add 3/4 cup of sugar to the mixture.  Put on low and add salt or sugar to taste.  Be sure to watch it so that it doesn't stick.  If I am cooking it in the crock pot, I will cook it about 8 hours on low.

We usually make 4-6 meals off of this pot of spaghetti sauce depending on if we are having guests.  I also try to get mileage out of it as hot dog chili--it's wonderful on hot dogs!   If you try it, let me know how you like it!  Bon Appetit!  And thank you Aunt Glenda!