Pantry Raid: Tomato Sauce

Ordering the case of canning tomatoes last weekend reminded me that I had quite a number of 28-oz jars of crushed tomatoes in our pantry with some tomato paste and a packet of spaghetti sauce mix (bought, many months ago, to make a casserole I promptly lost the recipe for). Then, I also remembered the sweet Italian sausage links and lean ground beef in our freezer ... obviously, I had to make sauce!

Easy Meaty Tomato Sauce

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 shallot, minced
6 cloves garlic, pressed
1 lb sweet Italian sausage links, thawed and removed from casings
1/2 lb lean ground beef, thawed
2 28-oz cans Muir Glen Crushed Tomatoes with basil
1 14-oz can Muir Glen No Salt Added diced tomatoes, undrained
1 envelope McCormick Italian-Style Spaghetti Sauce Mix
1 6-oz can Muir Glen tomato paste

Heat oil in a large pot. Add shallot and garlic and cook until shallot becomes translucent. Add meat and cook until no longer pink. Drain meat in a paper towel-lined colander. Return to pan. Add tomatoes and spaghetti sauce mix and simmer, covered, for about thirty minutes. Add tomato paste. Stir well and cook thirty minutes more. Allow sauce to cool. Parcel out into quart bags and freeze.

This recipe worked out really well! The sauce was rich and meaty with just the right amount of seasoning. (Good thing it tastes so nice, because the recipe made almost four quarts worth of sauce).

As an aside, I was excited to discover I could order Muir Glen tomato products by the case from Amazon. The price is less than what I would pay per can at the grocery store and less per case than what I would pay if ordering directly from Muir Glen. And almost every single case qualifies for free shipping! And if I order through Amazon's Subscribe & Save, I'll automatically receive a new shipment at intervals of my choosing and save an extra fifteen percent per case (shipping remains free)!

You have no idea how chuffed I am with the possibilities. Cases of Muir Glen tomato products at my door every six three months? Lovely jubbly!