Back to Basics

This page is dedicated to the "basics" of homemade cooking.  Instead of using jarred pasta sauce, for instance, loaded with extra unnecessary ingredients, we make our own.  Instead of heavily salted cream of chicken soup, we make our own.

Here's our basic Red Sauce.  We use it for lasagna, spaghetti, Italian casseroles, and we freeze several containers of it for quick weeknight meals.

Red Sauce

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 3 medium yellow onions, chopped
• 2 bell peppers, chopped
• 2 lb. mushrooms, chopped
• 4 tsp. garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. dried basil
• 2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. ground black pepper
• 4 cans whole peeled tomatoes (28 oz.), undrained
• 1 can tomato sauce (15 oz.)
• 2 cans tomato paste (6 oz.) or 1 12oz. can
• 2 lb. ground turkey or ground beef, browned and drained, optional

Directions
1. In a large heavy pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onions, bell pepper, mushrooms, garlic, salt, basil, oregano and black pepper, and cook, stirring, until soft, 5-10 minutes.
2. Chop the whole tomatoes into small pieces. Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato paste and sauce to the pot and stir well. If you want to make a meat sauce, add the meat now. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.
3. Lower the heat to medium-low, and simmer uncovered for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. ALWAYS tastes better the next day. 

Freeze leftovers. Makes quite a lot...several dinners' worth!

This is my version of canned cream of chicken soup, used and referred to in several of  our recipes.


Cream of Chicken Soup

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. flour
• 3 Tbsp. butter
• ½ cup chicken broth
• ½ cup milk
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions
1. Melt the butter in a small sauce pan over medium-low heat.
2. When melted, whisk in the flour and continue whisking until smooth and bubbly.
3. Remove from the heat and slowly whisk in the chicken broth and milk.
4. Return to the heat and bring to a gentle boil, whisking constantly, until the soup thickens. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Note: Use this recipe whenever a can of cream of chicken soup is called for in a recipe.

Add sautéed mushrooms to make cream of mushroom soup, or add sautéed celery to make cream of celery soup.