Recipes #8 and #9: Spaghetti Sauce and Caprese Salad

Well, my husband is doing the dishes and my son is in bed, and I finally get to put my feet up...and write my post! Today was a great day in my kitchen. Lots of fun! When Will and I were deciding what we should eat tonight, we knew it had to involve one thing...bread! (another post on that coming soon!) So I decided to make another Plunkett favorite...Spaghetti!
 
You need:
carrots, just a couple
onion, one
olive oil, a drizzle
stewed tomatoes, one or two cans
tomato sauce, equal parts to the stewed tomatoes
basil, to taste
oregano, again whatever you like
salt, a pinch or two

I didn't have all of that so I substituted crushed and diced tomatoes for the stewed tomatoes and tomato paste for the tomato sauce... I actually think it helped it cook faster because it was already thick and small pieces. anyways, you could also use roma tomatoes instead of the stewed, i just didn't have enough.

• grate up carrots and dice onions, saute with the olive oil until soft.
• add tomatoes and sauce and let simmer
• add basil, oregano, and salt. I added rosemary too, both the rosemary and basil were from my garden! :)
• Simmer over low heat until the tomatoes cook down and thicken stirring occasionally.
• it may take 2-3 hours depending on what you use, but if you use a short cut like I did it won't take that long! 

The noodle were special--straight from Italy, thanks to a friend. I was just waiting for a fun occasion to use them!



Along with the spaghetti we had some herb bread and caprese salad, another italian favorite, taking several things I love and putting them together!
Caprese Salad:
Mozzarella, go for the good stuff, not the low fat stuff...
roma tomatoes
basil, fresh is best
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

I like to cut up the mozzarella and tomatoes into small chucks. then i added some fresh basil that my boys went outside to pick for me, only moments before I made the salad! :) drizzle the olive oil on top and mix together. Fresh and delicious!