Carl's Spaghetti Sauce

in his own hand, 1989

There's no other name for it.

The basis for this recipe came from our good friend Emily - Rex's mom. It has been our family go-to spaghetti sauce ever since.

Below is how I make it, evolved from Carl's version, shown.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon oil
1 pork chop with bone (optional)
1 lb. lean ground meat
1/2 c. finely diced onion
1/2 c. finely diced green pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried sage
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 fresh ground pepper
splash of red wine (optional)
1 dried bay leaf
2 large (28 oz. each) crushed tomatoes
1-16 oz. can tomato sauce
1-6 oz. can tomato paste
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 can of mushrooms, drained (optional)

In a stockpot or other large pot, heat oil over medium-high heat. When oil is heated, if you are using a pork chop, add the pork chop now (or skip to the ground meat step). Brown the pork chop until deep-golden on both sides. Remove pork chop to a plate and set aside; cover with foil to keep warm.

Add ground meat to pot; brown; drain. Return to heat and reduce heat to medium.
Add onion and green pepper to meat and cook until onion is translucent, stirring occasionally.
Add garlic and next 6 ingredients (through pepper). Stir for 1 minute.
Splash in some red wine to de-glaze the pot. (stir to remove stuck-on bits from bottom of the pot)
Return pork chop to the pot and add crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, and bay leaf.
Stir occasionally until heated through, reduce heat to medium-low or low, just enough to maintain a simmer.
Simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
Add chopped parsley and if desired, the mushrooms.
Adjust seasonings. Remove pork chop and discard (or eat!).

Serve over pasta, or just eat it from a bowl (call it Italian Chili).

Tips

Why use the pork chop? The pork chop adds a rich flavor, and the bone will thicken the sauce.

There's a lot of room for error in this recipe. Don't sweat it if you don't have every seasoning on hand. Use what you have, add what you like, adjust to your taste.

Crushed tomatoes vary, and some are much chunkier than others. Try a few brands to know what consistency you like best.

Fresh mushrooms are a better plan than canned. If you use them, wash, slice, and add with onions and green peppers.

I usually double this recipe and freeze leftovers for future meals.

Fresh Tomato Salsa

or for the purists, pico de gallo

We eat this as fast as I can make it. Aside from chips, it makes a great topping for chili, salads, and eggs. Or just eat it by the spoonful.

The ingredients are imprecise in quantity, leaving much to your taste buds. Go ahead and alter any quantity to your liking. OK to leave the cilantro out for those without the cilantro-lover gene.

Ingredients

8-10 plum tomatoes, just ripe (and still a bit firm) - diced, 1/4-inch, then strain off excessive juice
1 small red onion, finely diced
the juice of 1 or 2 limes
1/4 cup of minced cilantro
1 TBSP olive oil (optional)
1 or 2 cloves garlic, minced (or 1/2 tsp garlic salt)
Salt and pepper to taste

Put everything in a bowl and stir gently until well-blended. Taste. Adjust seasonings. Enjoy!

Tip

Dicing tomatoes cleanly requires a good knife. My go-to knife for nearly all my dicing and chopping is a 5" santoku knife. I keep it sharp, and it never fails me.

Basic Multigrain Pancakes

or the pancakes you were raised on

Chris preferred a simple Bisquick pancake, which is the pancake I was raised on (among other prepared box mixes). Prepared mixes are easy and satisfy a hunger for pennies. If the time and ingredients are available, the flavor and nutritional value of these made-from-scratch, multigrain pancakes can't be beat. The origin of the recipe is cookbook author Jane Brody.

Dry Ingredients

2/3 cup whole-wheat flour, preferably stone-ground

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup cornmeal (or other grain such as oat flour, barley, buckweat, millet)

2 tablespoon wheat germ

2 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)

Wet Ingredients

1 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup skim milk

1 egg white

1 whole egg

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix together all the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. In a second bowl, combine all the wet ingredients, whipping them enough to lightly beat the eggs. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir just enough to combine (batter should be rough, with some dry spots, rather than smooth).

Heat a griddle to medium heat. Grease it lightly with vegetable oil, butter, bacon grease - whatever is available. Pour batter onto griddle to form individual pancakes. Turn the heat down to medium-low and cook the pancakes until the bottoms are golden brown and the tops begin to bubble. Flip them over, and cook until the undersides are golden brown. Serve immediately.

Tips

A fair substitute for 1 cup buttermilk is this: Add 1 TBSP apple cider vinegar to a measuring cup; add nonfat milk to make one cup; stir; let stand 5 minutes.

The batter can stand for about 10 minutes outside of the refrigerator, or for an hour or more refrigerated.

If a griddle is not available, a large non-stick frying pan will do.

Variations

Add fruit! Gently fold into the batter, such as blueberries or sliced strawberries.