Spaghetti Sauce

Have you ever put off writing your blog because you're waiting for that perfect blog? That funny, anecdotal, slice of your life that you think might be more interesting than, "We woke up, we cleaned, we had therapy, daddy came home, we had dinner and went to bed." 

But life is what happens while you're waiting right? 

We have A LOT of tomatoes that are fixin to be ripe enough to harvest.  As excited as I am about this prospect of fresh from the garden veggies, I also started to wonder. "What will I do with all those tomatoes?"  Then it hit me!  Spaghetti Sauce!!! I always need it, and to be able to make it from our own garden, with veggies I picked myself?!? Home-making bliss!! 

Here's how it would go, in my mind... 

Sundress blowing in the breeze, my apron pulled up in the front to make a handy carrying place. (I don't know shy I wear aprons in my fantasies...do you?) 

Where was I? Oh yeah, My apron pulled up in from t to carry my bundles of bright red little jewels from my garden.  I would happily bring in my loot wash it, dice it, slave over it lovingly, and eventually serve it to a grateful and impressed family.  We would look back on this day as THE DAY! The day I channeled my inner "Ma Ingalls" and mastered spaghetti sauce.  The kind of sauce that you would soak up with a piece of bread, a real Ragu tasting delicacy! 

With this EPIC day coming closer I decided today would be my trial run, my dress rehearsal. 

Where does a transplanted city-girl go for "epically life changing recipes"?  Pinterest of course!! 

I'm not kidding, every single "pin" that I looked at started with, 

6 cans of tomato sauce 

2 cans of tomato paste...

So, amused, but un-satisfied I went to Pioneer Woman!  She had a great post about how she loves garlic, loves vegetables, loves loving things. :-). And her secret ingredient?!? Drum roll.....

Emeril's marinara from a jar!!!! 

Aaaaarghhh!  

I did eventually find a site that gave step by step instructions for "Fresh from the garden spaghetti sauce."  

Yes, it took 3 hrs to simmer, but what's three hours when compared to domestic goddess status? 

I gathered my veggies and sorted out the spaghetti sauce necessaries. 

I washed and chopped, ooo-ed and awww-ed over my little treasures. 

I sautéed 

I simmered

I reduced

Then I "zhuuzzed"  it all together with immersion blender my dad bought us for Christmas a few years ago. :-) 

There is no creamy/saucy picture of beautiful Ragu-like sauce. It was chunky/grainy I'm not sure how to identify the sludge that I ended up with. 

2 of our children begged for cereal instead. 

1 of our children refused the sludge, and (store bought) roll simply because of its proximity to the sludge! 

The 3 that did eat, I suspect were only powering through the spaghetti sludge to get to the chocolate cake that was being dangled like a carrot.  I had bread with a generous helping of butter, and an ice-cream bar. 

In the end, spaghetti sludge splatter was all that was left of today's debacle. 

I think Ragu will be going back on the grocery list. (As soon as my family forgets about the spaghetti sludge.)