Jazzed Up Jarred Spaghetti Sauce
I remember fondly the days before children. You know the days when you get to go to the bathroom by yourself, you aren’t constantly covered in spit up, and meals don’t consist of cutting everything into tiny pieces. Even with only one child, things were different…I actually had the time to make spaghetti sauce from scratch. It wasn’t insanely time consuming because a crockpot was involved, but it’s more time than I have these days wrangling two under two…so in a crunch the other night I made spaghetti with plain store bought spaghetti sauce. Yall, I must admit, it wasn’t great. What is a tired mama to do?? I needed a compromise.
So, last week I decided to jazz up this basic jarred spaghetti sauce in hopes of a delicious but not time consuming dinner. And since I know we toddler moms don’t have time for the store, the good news is you probably have most of these ingredients to give new life to your plain sauce in your pantry & fridge.
What you’ll need: a jar of spaghetti sauce, a can of tomatoes or one whole tomato, 1/2 diced onion, 2 cloves of minced garlic, 1 .5 tsp of fennel, 1.5 tsp of basil, 1/5 tsp of parsley, tbsp olive oil
Directions: Add olive oil to a skillet over medium heat. Add chopped onions and saute until translucent, add in minced garlic. Then poor in jarred spaghetti sauce and one can of drained tomatoes (or you can chop one tomato & add that), Reduce heat and let simmer for about 10 minutes. Then add in spices/herbs and salt & pepper to taste. Let simmer over low heat for another 15-20 minutes. Poor over pasta & enjoy (with cheesy garlic toast if you want to get crazy!!). You can re-jar what you don’t use and store in the refrigerator.
I promise busy mom, you can do this! Happy Weekend everyone!
My family doesn’t like fennel because they say it tastes like licorice. What other herb can I replace fennel with please. I really appreciate your help. Thank you so much.
I think any Italian herb would work as a substitute!
What a great compromise, LB – I can’t wait to try this with my store bought sauce!
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Hi Laura Beth,
Great recipe, even for those of us with grown children! I totally remeber days like yours, and your comment about cutting food into tiny pieces brought back memories. My kids were 2 and 5 years old and I was on a cruise with my Mom. I remember really feeling like I was on bacation because our waiter cut up my little one’s food, and I got to eat a meal while it was still hot!! Isn’t it amazing the things we take for granted?! I can definitely relate with how hectic your days are now!
*vacation* :-)
So glad you can relate! I know it’s a phase and I am soaking it all up…the amazing & the crazy!