Tomato Sauce

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I know this isn’t going to be a popular thing to say, but I’m not a huge fan of the cook all day tomato sauce and don’t hate me, but I don’t even like meat sauce… I know! Terrible right? However, there’s nothing better than a quick tomato sauce and it’s so versatile! I’m going to illustrate that here, by making a dinner for four and then lunches for my husband for the rest of the week. Ready? Here we go! Hint: It’s cheap too!

Ingredients for quick tomato sauce:

2 T. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 small onions chopped
3 cloves garlic chopped
2 32 oz. cans crushed tomatoes
1 8 oz. can tomato paste
1 lb. linguini
Dried red pepper flakes (optional – to taste)
freshly grated parm. cheese (we used locatelli)

Additional ingredients to make lunches:

2 lb. mixed pasta
1 32 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 package frozen okra

Heat a medium pan on med. high.  When hot, add the olive oil.  When it “ribbons” add the onion and cook till it’s glossy and translucent.

add the garlic and saute for a minute or two, basically until it smells so good you can’t stand it.   Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste and pepper flakes and let cook for about 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, prepare the linguine according package directions.

Drain the pasta and separate into bowls, spoon some sauce on top, sprinkle with cheese and enjoy!  Add a salad and easily feed a family of four.

Put up another pot of salted water to boil, add the other can of tomatoes to the sauce and add prepare the mixed pasta according to directions.  You can use whatever you like, but my husband found DeCicco pasta misto for very cheap, so we used that.  2 minutes before time’s up, add the frozen okra.  Cook till done and drain.

Transfer to a large bowl and pour the sauce over the pasta and okra.  Combine.  Let cool and transfer to storage containers.

So what did we spend? Less than $10 for dinner and lunches.  And it’s really delicious.

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