Marinara Sauce

My mother almost always made marinara sauce from scratch when I was little, so it's pretty much the only way I will eat it.  Here's my best approximation of her recipe.

Marinara Sauce

1 pound ground beef
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 medium onion minced
2-4 cloves minced garlic
8 ounces mushrooms
2 (15 ounce) cans tomato sauce
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
2 1/2 - 3 teaspoons oregano
2 1/2 - 3 teaspoons basil
2 teaspoon parsley
1/2 teaspoon marjoram
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/8 teaspoon ground pepper

Brown ground beef, drain.  Put olive oil in pan, saute onions until translucent, add garlic and mushrooms and saute a few more minutes, being careful not to burn garlic.  Add tomato sauce, tomatoes, spices and ground beef.  Simmer for at least ten minutes for flavors to mingle.

I use about half of this and freeze the rest, but my little penguins still don't eat a whole lot.  I think this covers about 2 one pound boxes of pasta, but depending on how saucy you like your pasta, it could be less or more.

La-la-la-lasagna!

Here's a recipe for my mama's lasagna.  I had the missionaries tell me once they'd heard I made a famous lasagna and would like me to make it again.  So, it's pretty good. :)

Lasagna

1 lb ground beef

1 lb jimmy dean sausage

1 to 1 1/2 onion diced

2 lb mushrooms sliced

1 tbl garlic minced (4-5 cloves)

1 tbl basil

1 tbl 1 tsp oregano

1 tsp marjoram

1 ½ tsp parsley

1 bay leaf

3 29 oz cans tomato sauce

1-2 boxes frozen spinach

1 large container ricotta cheese

2-3 lb mozzarella cheese shredded or sliced

1-2 c shredded parmesan cheese

1-2 boxes lasagna noodles

In large pot, sauté onions in a little olive oil until translucent.  Add garlic, sauté for another minute or two then add mushrooms and cook until most of the liquid evaporates.  Remove from pot and add ground beef, and brown.  Remove from pot and drain while you brown the sausage, also draining sausage after it is cooked.  Return everything to pot (or crock pot, I usually put the sauce in there and let it simmer most of the day), add spices and tomato sauce and let everything simmer for a while.

Thaw spinach and squeeze as much moisture as you can out.  Mix with ricotta cheese until well blended.  Cook noodles as directed on package.  In large lasagna pan (this recipe is for my pan, it’s like 10x13 and 4 or 5 inches deep; you could also make two smaller pans with this recipe, but you will need two boxes of noodles) spread a small amount of sauce in the bottom.  Layer noodles on top, spread about 1/3 of ricotta mixture on top, top with generous amount of both cheeses and the cover with sauce.  Layer more noodles and repeat until pan is full.  On top layer of noodles, cover with sauce and then shredded cheese.  Bake at 350 covered for about 45 minutes (or until hot through), then uncover and continue baking until cheese is melted and golden on the edges.

Shrimp Alfredo

One thing that my kids will usually eat is anything that involves noodles. We eat a lot of pasta with marinara sauce because of this. But my mother makes awesome shrimp Alfredo and they like that too. Of course they pick everything except the noodles out. But at least they eat those!


1/2 c butter
2 cloves garlic, minced (you can add more if you like garlic a lot)
1 c cream or milk
1 tbl - 1/8 c flour
3/4 c grated Parmesan cheese (fresh is best)
1 c steamed broccoli, well dried
3/4 c chopped tomatoes, well dried
1 c cooked shrimp, well dried (or cooked chopped chicken)
2 c penne noodles (this is a pre-cooked measurement)


Boil noodles according to instructions. Drain and rinse well. Transfer to oven proof dish and place in 200 degree oven. Melt butter over medium heat in large skillet. Add garlic and saute for a few minutes. Add flour (about a tablespoon for cream or about 1/8 cup for milk) and cook until well incorporated. Add cream or milk and cook until hot. Add cheese stirring until melted. Add broccoli, tomatoes, shrimp and noodles stirring to coat. Serve hot.



I usually use cream because it gives the sauce such a great flavor, but you can use milk to make it lower fat or if it is all you have on hand (like I did last night!). The flour thickens and adds stability to the sauce, so when you use a lower fat base you need to add more flour. If the sauce starts to separate you can add a little more flour and if you add too much flour, just add a bit more of the cream or milk. I love the shrimp in this but I have also made it with chicken (again what was on hand).

Chicken Manicotti

This is my mother's recipe and I totally love it. It's even some thing that my picky little penguins will usually eat. I always make my own sauce for it (I'm neurotic like that), but canned sauce works just as well and makes the recipe much easier.


1 c cooked chopped chicken
15 oz ricotta cheese
3/4 c Parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 - 3/4 c mozzarella cheese, grated
1/8 c chopped fresh parsley
1 10 oz package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1/2 - 1 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp basil
1/8 - 1/4 tsp pepper
marinara sauce
1 package manicotti shells


Boil manicotti shells according to package's instructions, until al dente. While these are cooking combine all other ingredients (except sauce) in a bowl. Drain shells and rinse with cold water to cool and prevent sticking. Stuff shells with chicken mixture. Place in 9x11 pan, cover with sauce and top with more grated mozzarella cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until hot through.

You can also use fresh spinach if you wilt it first. To do this you rinse your spinach, put it in a non-stick pan and cook it over medium heat until it looks like thawed frozen spinach. It takes about five minutes (or that's how long it took me tonight), but if you have fresh spinach on hand, or if you like it better anyway, it's not that hard.



I made this tonight thinking my little penguins would both eat it (unlike most of the meals I've made lately), but they both surprised me and refused it. Well, my daughter ate some but only when I fed her and could get my son to actually sit at the table instead of telling me he didn't like it and didn't want to eat it. Instead they both ate strawberries, snow peas and the croutons out of the Caesar salad for dinner.