Homemade Canned Spaghetti Sauce

Things are starting to get a little dire in the Haas household... we only have 1 jar of homemade spaghetti sauce left! Last summer, we were fortunate enough to have a friend willingly donate 25 pounds of tomatoes to our spaghetti making adventure, so we jumped in head first. Believe me, it's a process, but when you get to savor homemade sauce all winter long, you can hardly remember the blood, sweat, & tears that went into it (emphasis on hardly).

This summer, I'm going completely nuts & am planning to grow all the tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, parsley, & basil that we will need to make more sauce & even salsa. I plan to blanch, peel, & cut up the tomatoes as they become ripe & then freeze them until cook time. It all sounds really well & good now, but I'm sure when it's 100 degrees, boiling tomatoes won't be the top item on my agenda.

I'll just have to re-read this post & remember how incredibly satisfying it is to not only be able to spell everything I'm eating, but to also take pride in the fact that we were able to make something from tiny seeds to satisfy our tummies at mealtime. How crazy is that?

Homemade Canned Spaghetti Sauce

Ingredients
25 pounds tomatoes
4 large green peppers, seeded
4 large onions, cut into wedges
4 cans (6 ounces each) tomato paste
1 cup canola oil
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup salt
8 garlic cloves, minced
4 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes
2 teaspoons dried basil
2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons bottled lemon juice

Directions
In a large pot, bring 8 cups water to a boil. Using a slotted spoon, place tomatoes, one at a time, in boiling water for 30-60 seconds. Remove each tomato & immediately plunge in ice water. Peel & quarter tomatoes.

In a food processor, cover & process green peppers & onions in batches until finely chopped. In a stockpot, combine the tomatoes, green pepper mixture, tomato paste, oil, sugar, salt, garlic, oregano, parsley, basil, pepper flakes, Worcestershire sauce & bay leaves. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 4-5 hours, stirring occasionally. Discard bay leaves.

Add lemon juice to nine hot quart jars, 2 tablespoons in each. Ladle hot mixture into jars, leaving 1/2-inch of headspace. Remove air bubbles; wipe rims & adjust lids. Process for 40 minutes completely covered in boiling water. You should get about 9 quarts of sauce.

Recipe taken from Taste of Home