Food Storage Friday

Today's recipe: a very versatile pasta sauce!

Ingredients are all from food storage.

canned tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes (you could also use tomato paste, just make sure you add water)
dry minced onions
pre-chopped garlic
olive oil
seasoned salt
garlic salt
parsley (dry or fresh)
pepper
balsamic vinegar
sugar

I used half fresh onion and half minced, just because the fresh flavor is a little better to me. I also used half oil and half butter. For an entirely food storage friendly sauce, don't use fresh onion or butter.

Saute both kinds of onions in the oil and butter. The dehydrated onions should be semi hydrated, and the fresh onions should be soft.

add the tomato sauce in increments. season each layer. 

add three Tbsp sugar. You might not think to add sugar, but it makes it so good!

add the minced garlic. The reason we don't add it sooner is that when garlic is chopped so finely, it burns really easily. 

Add the vinegar. only do 2-3 Tbsp or it will be too liquidy. The vinegar will cook down and give a really great flavor.

At this point, your sauce will be brownish and thin. Let some liquid evaporate.

Season more as needed. You should have all the sauce in the pan now. Do not cover. Sauce will stay thin if you put a lid over it.

Let cool and transfer to freezable containers. These ones stack really nicely and take up very little space. I like to divide my sauce into separate containers so I don't have to defrost the whole batch and refreeze what I don't use.

This sauce is really good. Its cheaper than buying ready made sauce, and you can add whatever flavors you like! I know a woman who adds a little cinnamon to her sauce, just for a little extra spice! Personally, I love adding TONS of veggies. I chop up yellow summer squash, zucchini, and mushrooms. Saute them, add sauce and serve over pasta. You can cook up some meat and throw it in, or even sneak in some veggies if your kids don't like them: blend some of the pasta in the blender with a bunch of fresh spinach. Pour back into the pan with the rest of the sauce. The color will be weird and green, but as the spinach cooks, it will turn brown and your sauce will be normal looking.

The great thing is, pasta is food storage! You have a food storage-friendly meal!

Enjoy!