There comes a time when you get tired of doing something. Today I am just tired of cooking different meals. I really wanted some familiar food that would almost prepare itself. On the docket for today was South Africa. With my busy day and Chip's stomach ailment, I decided that we would postpone that until another day. So at about 5pm, I ran to the grocery store to get some supplies to make a meal from Italy. Now, I should have called my Aunt's husband Carmen for a recipe (he was born in Italy and makes us a huge, delicious Italian meal every Thanksgiving) but I just didn't. Lazy I suppose. I googled and came up with this recipe, which supposedly came from someone's friend's Italian mother-in-law.

To make homemade spaghetti sauce, you need:

• 28 ounce can stewed tomatoes
• 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 large yellow onion chopped
• 2 green bell peppers chopped
• 5 cloves garlic chopped
• 1 tbsp white sugar
• 1 tbsp dried basil
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 2 Bay leaves
• salt and pepper to taste

Blend the stewed tomatoes and crushed tomatoes in a blender.


In a stock pot or large kettle, brown the ground beef with the onions, peppers, garlic.


Pour in tomatoes, and reduce heat. Add sugar, basil, bay leaves and oregano, and simmer about 40 minutes.


Remove bay leaves and season with salt and pepper before serving.

Serve with a leafy salad and garlic bread!


The verdict: It's not my favorite sauce. It was runnier than our family usually likes and was definitely sweeter. I even used 1/2 the amount of sugar the original recipe called for but it was still really sweet. Overall, I think it was fine but I probably won't be making it again anytime soon. Besides that, it made enough to feed a giant Italian family so we had more than enough to freeze for a different day.

To see how we studied Italy in 2006, click here.