Spaghetti Sauce, Refined

Earlier this summer, I made a spaghetti sauce from a recipe I found on Barbara Kingsolver’s “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” website. I was finding the recipe a little contradictory to what I usually like in a pasta sauce, but I decided to go for it anyway. And I tweaked it a bit (mistake). My family wasn’t too excited by it.  They'll eat it anyway, it will taste great in lasagna.
I was disappointed. I was looking forward to an easy meal alternative for my family. My boys are playing football and they need to eat about seven meals a day. I am willing to cook only two of them.
So I looked through the “Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving” for another recipe to try. I tweaked that one too and it worked out nicely this time.
So I went to the farmer’s market, bought a ton of tomatoes, and I’ll do it again next week. And I am going to process some of it in half pint jars so the boys can come home, cook up some pasta, and pop open a can of sauce.

Tomato and Basil Sauce with a Kick

• About 40# of roma tomatoes, processed (I blanched them in hot water, pulverized them in the Cuisinart, and processed them through a food mill) into 35 c. of tomato sauce
• 2 large yellow onions, diced and minced in the Cuisinart
• 2 heads of garlic, diced and minced in the Cuisinart
• ½ c. chopped basil
• 3 T. canning salt
• ¼ t. pepper
• ½ c. sugar
• 2 t. cinnamon (my nod to Barbara)
• ½ t. allspice (my own favorite secret spice)
• lemon juice
• sterilized jars
• 2-part lids

1. It’s not a great idea to can cooked onions and garlic in oil, so I cooked mine, top on the pot, with a tablespoon of water until they were soft and translucent.
2. Add tomatoes, basil, and spices.
3. Cook, uncovered, on low until the sauce reaches the desired consistency.
4. To ensure proper acidity, add lemon juice to sterilized jars

• 2 T. to each quart
• 1 T. to each pint
• ½ T. to each half pint

Cover jars with 2-part lids and process in a water bath canner for 35 minutes.