Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

This recipe started years ago with a recipe that my grandmother was given by her maid in Italy while she and my grandfather were stationed there when my father and his twin sister were babies. In the years since she gave it to me, I have loved it, but have made a few changes here and there to suit my own preferences. Keep in mind that I feed 7 people, so you probably want to have a jar or two handy for leftover sauce.

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

6-8 cloves of garlic, dependant on their size, diced

1 medium onion, diced

12oz tomato paste

28oz Italian Style diced tomatoes

6 cups hot water

3/4 tsp oregano

3 tsp salt

3/4 tsp pepper

3/4 tsp basil

1 1/2 tsp parsley

Note: Because we have several people in the house (including myself) who don't like certain textures, I use a small Ninja to chop my onion, garlic, and diced tomatoes until they are almost pureed.

Saute onion and garlic in a bit of olive oil. Add them, along with all other ingredients, to a pot, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for at least two hours, stirring occassionally. The longer you allow this to simmer, the better it will taste. I also brown 3lbs of ground beef and add in at the end of cooking to turn this into a meat sauce. We also eat our spaghetti with mushrooms (canned pieces & stems, sauteed in tons of butter with garlic salt) and mozzarella. Even feeding 7, we still have some leftovers, which are normally gone within a couple of days.