Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

I promised to share my homemade spaghetti (or pizza) sauce recipe on my homemade pizza post.  I guarantee it is delicious!

• 1 can of whole tomatoes in tomato juice.  No other flavors.  This is important as it'll change the flavor of the sauce in the end.
• Garlic cloves
• Basil leaves (fresh or dried)
• Oregano leaves (fresh or dried)
• Salt

Optional:

• Rosemary
• Cilantro
• Cooked ground meat

In a sauce pan, heat the oil.   Once the oil is hot, add the peeled garlic cloves and let them brown.  (The smell is delicious!)

Add the tomatoes.  I use Hunt's whole tomatoes for this recipe.  Add salt, basil and oregano leaves to taste.  Let it boil on medium heat for 10 minutes.

Remove from heat, and use a blender to puree your sauce.  I use my handy-dandy handheld blender, which makes this step a breeze.  Be very careful, as the sauce if very hot!

Puree sauce with handheld blender

Return sauce to the stove and let it boil for 5 minutes.  At this point you can add ground meat or what I usually do, homemade meatballs.  Yummy!

I usually buy a big can of Hunt's Whole tomatoes at Costco and make a big batch of sauce. When I do this, I use the whole garlic bulb, cloves peeled, of course.   Then I place it in freezer bags or freezer safe bowls, and freeze for a quick meal on busy days.

This sauce is delicious, thick and so easy to make!  

Thanks for visiting!

Homemade Pizza

Homemade pepperoni pizza

Last night I wanted to do something special for my family, so I made homemade pizza!  I used my wonderful bread maker to make the dough and it turned out, not only delicious, but big too!

Want to know how to make this delicious pizza?  Here's my recipe:

1/2 cup of water
3 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 cups of all-purpose flour (you can use wheat if you'd like)


Measure and add ingredients into pan.  Press the "Menu" button on the bread maker and select "Dough". Press the "Start" button.

Your dough should be ready in about 1 and 1:30 hours, depending on your machine.  (You could do it by hand, making sure all the ingredients are well mixed.  Knead for about 10 minutes or until you get an elastic rubbery dough ball.)

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Use gloves to remove the pan from the machine as it might be hot.  Spray pan with non-stick cooking spray.  

Pat down the dough on the pan you are going to use until the dough fits into your pan.  I used a rectangle cookie sheet and it worked out perfectly.  Remember that you will need to make it thin, as it will rise upon cooking.  You can also divide the dough and make smaller or personal pizzas.

Pat down the dough until it fits into pan

Spread pizza or marinara sauce over dough.  Sprinkle shredded cheese and toppings.  I used my own recipe for the pizza sauce (which I'll share in another post) and Pepperoni.  

Spread pizza sauce

Bake 20 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.  

Bake for 20 minutes at 400°F

Pull out of the oven and enjoy!!!

Ready to eat!

I would love to know how your homemade pizza turned out!  Thanks for visiting my Little Corner!

I heart you card - Retro Sketches Challenge

I have just discovered a very nice blog called Retro Sketches.  There are challenges regularly, for you to create using a sketch.  This got my creative juices flowing and it inspired me to make my very first Retro Sketch card.  I decided to make this Valentine's card for my hubby.  

The paper is American Crafts.  I hope you like it!

Thanks for looking!