Mmmm....Spaghetti Sauce

I'd like to share another fine recipe of my mother's - - her spaghetti sauce. It is sooooo good. When my parents were preparing to come out to Idaho for Griffin's birth, my mom asked me if there was anything I'd like her to cook for me while they were here, and this is what I requested. Yesterday, I made a big batch, and am freezing it in blocks and vacuum sealing it for easy meals later.

Roberta's Spaghetti Sauce

2 pounds ground beef (you can also use ground turkey, if you like)

1 onion, finely chopped

1 green pepper, finely chopped

2 cans (15 ounces each) tomato sauce

2 cans (7.5 ounces each) tomato paste

1 can (7.5 ounces) sliced black olives

2 envelopes (1.5 ounces each) Italian-style spaghetti sauce mix)

3 cups water

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon oregano leaves

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 bay leaf

Cook and stir ground beef, onion, and green pepper until meat is brown and onion is tender. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover and simmer for 1.5 hours, stirring occasionally.

After it has cooled, I spoon it into small loaf pans (the bottom of the pan measures 2.5"x5"), then freeze until solid. The small loaf pan freezes a portion a little over two servings, so it is perfect for Steve, Camden, and myself. Pop them out of the pan, and vacuum seal, one block per bag, like this:

When you are ready to use it, all you have to do is toss the bag into a pot of boiling water until it is thawed out and heated through. Delish, and so much better than jarred sauce from the store.

At this very moment, I have a cooking disaster on my hands. This morning, I prepared some Honey Wheat bread dough in my bread machine. I prefer to bake my bread in the oven, rather than in the bread machine, so I kneaded the loaf and put it in the pan, and popped it in to my gently warmed oven, so it could rise for 30 minutes. Well, I forgot it was there. That poor loaf has been rising for 4+ hours. When I removed it from the oven, it promptly sank. I'm still baking it, on the off chance it will be salvageable, but I'm guessing I'll be making another loaf of bread this evening. Drats.

Camden and I got the Easter decorations out this afternoon. I think we'll attempt to make some sugar eggs this year. These are the eggs made out of sugar that you can look into, and see a little Easter scene. I made some a few years ago, and they were so much fun. I think Camden will get a kick out of it. Must Google a recipe for the molding sugar.

Steve has been on orders this week, so that he could get caught up on some work at the armory. I talked to him a couple of hours ago, and he's wishing he could remain on orders for a few more weeks. Between company command and his civilian army job, it is like having two full-time jobs, so he's a busy boy. He's declared this weekend "family fun weekend", so I'm looking forward to that. He's been busy the past few weekends, getting the rental ready, but this weekend we are just going to hang out and have fun. Tomorrow morning, I'm taking off by myself to do a little shopping, to leisurely sip some coffee (a nonfat decaf cinnamon mocha, to be exact) and rejuvenate myself, after putting in lots and lots of busy hours mothering my boys.

For those of you who asked, these are stemless wine glasses. Just like a regular wine glass, only without a stem. Love them. Unfortunately, this photo also shows how stained my glass top range is. Does anyone else have a glass top range, and if so, how do you get the dark stains around the burners, off? I've tried Easy Off Glass Top Range cleaner - - it doesn't work, much to my dismay. Last, but not least, here's Griffin, flexing his new found neck muscles.