Nana's Spaghetti

This meaty pasta sauce is great in any pasta dish. I have a couple of spaghetti sauce recipes that has alot of great reviews from different websites. So I decided to combine  the ingredients together for the first time and it works great for my taste. My step-grandaugther who is picky with food didn't even think twice on taking her first bite. Her mom was even surprised. She loves it every time I come over and fix dinner for them. I have tried few spaghetti sauces  from my collections and this is so far my favorite. Add a little bit of red pepper flakes to give it a little kick. If you want to have extra for the next day, you have to double the ground meat. I prefer using ground chuck because it works really great for pasta sauces. Hope you enjoy it.

Ingredients

1 pound sweet italian sausage, broken in pieces
1 pound lean ground beef ( or ground chuck)
1 medium onion, minced
8 cloves garlic, minced
1 (29 ounce) can petite diced tomatoes
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 (29 ounce) cans tomato sauce
2 tbsp white sugar
1 1/2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp fennel seed
1 tsp italian seasoning
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp of grated parmesan cheese

Directions

1. In a large pot over medium heat, cook the saisage, beef, onion and garlic until browned: drain fat.
2. Stir diced tomatoes, tomato paste and tomato sauce.
3. Mix in sugar and season with basil, oregano, fennel seed, italian seasoning, salt and pepper.
4. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 1 1/2 hours, stirring every half hour.
5. Add the grated parmesan cheese in the last 30 mins.
6. Serve over pasta with galic bread.

Bruschetta

I have never tried Bruschetta before until after I watched the Julie and Julia movie. I enjoyed the movie so much because it's  not just all about cooking. It's about lives, cultures, relationships of two different women. Never tried a French cooking before but I will definitely will try. This is surely a keeper.

Servings 16 to 20 slices

Ingredients

1 long sourdough baguette

1 1/2 pound tomatoes, seeded and diced small

2 tbsp olive oil

1 bunch basil, chopped fine

 6 cloves garlic, minced

3/4 cup Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

 pinch of Italian seasoning

Directions

1. Heat broiler. Slice baguette down the middle and brown slightly under the broiler. And take it out.
2. In a bowl, mix tomatoes, olive oil, basil, garlic and cheese.
3. Cover cut side of bread with tomato mixture. Place under broiler until the whole things begins to brown and the cheese begins to melt about 2 minutes.
4. Remove and slice into serving pieces.

Recipe adapted from Sam the cooking guy