A Birth Story, part 1

Wow, it has been since February! Well, let me give you some updates, I finished my last trimester of prerequisites in April for my IBCLC, Mr. Wonderful spent a week in Colombia, we moved apartments, bought a house, and had a baby.

So life was a little crazy and stepped away from a few things so I could keep a bit of sanity. I promise to tell more details of the whirlwind 2017 was for us. First, because many are asking, here is the story I know a few of you are waiting for.

Many of you know how Mr. Z’s birth went, and for those of you that don’t, let me summarize it. Crazy. Fast. For a first birth, it was the fastest most of the hospital staff had seen. No one was prepared.

Baby Boy Teare, as he was know for almost his first 24 hours, was not like his brother’s birth at all. Around week 28, I started to get fairly good contractions. One night, they were consistent enough, that with our history of Mr. Z’s birth, we decided to go into Labor and Delivery. Four extremely uncomfortable hours later, I was allowed to no longer be strapped to monitors and to go home, NOT in labor.

No one was able to decide what was going on, and so I decided to mostly just ignore them. For the next 9 weeks if I was too active, walked too far, stood too long, twisted wrong, I would get a few contractions and would therefore, have to do a lot of resting.

Now, you would think with all the contractions that I was having we would have been ready for an early baby, but no. Mr. Wonderful, came home Wednesday from an overnight work trip and woke up Thursday morning feeling really sick. He had a high temp, and so everyone stayed away from him. He slowly got to feeling better and Saturday I went to my baby shower. It was fun and my girl Colleen is crazy creative. I really should have taken some pictures.

Sunday morning, I wake up and realize I caught whatever it was the Mr. Wonderful brought home. I start watching my temperature, because in pregnancy it is extremely dangerous if it gets too high. I call my doctor’s on call service, and wait while taking Tylenol and downing fluids. I don’t hear anything back and call the office first thing in the morning telling them I am 37 weeks pregnant and I think I have the flu. I get in that afternoon and they run a flu test. Doctor is positive I have the flu, and orders up Tamiflu for me and Mr. Z, and suggests we get the flu shot for him. He wasn’t showing any symptoms. My test comes back negative, but she suggest that I still take the anti-virals just in case baby does come early, we need me to better fast. So we get Mr. Z the flu shot, and pick up anti-virals for us.

I start taking them, but they make me so sick, I fight throwing them up for about an hour to an hour and half and then lose. So I take them for two days and make Mr. Z do the same. His, we had to bribe him to take, it was not fun for any of us. So now it’s Thursday, I am starting to feel close to 100%, Mr. Z hasn’t shown a single symptom and Mr. Wonderful is back to about 90% and finally heads back to campus after being gone for a week.

Thursday afternoon/early evening I am starting to feel more crampy than normal, so I eat dinner and lay down to rest. I get things to stop and Mr. Wonderful convinces  me to go out with some friends for a girls night. I go out, laugh, and have a good time. I go home feeling fine and go to bed.

Friday morning, I wake up about 8 (Mr. Z is a night owl like us, and sleeps in to about 8-8.30, don’t hate. His bed time is 8.30, but usually is it 10 before he is actually asleep, oops!) I go to the bathroom, and notice bloody show. I text my doula, as I did not experience this will Mr. Z and get back in bed for a few more minutes of sleep. I am thinking that this normal and in a week or so MAYBE there will be baby. Mr. Wonderful gets up and so do I. I then have this moment where I think, “That’s not me peeing, I just went.” So I go back to the bathroom and realize my water just broke. So I inform Mr. Wonderful he will unfortunately not be going to campus today and he needs to pack some bags.

Now, I am not contracting, so I am calm in knowing that this baby isn’t going to shoot out onto my bedroom floor. I get in bed so I can relax and start calling our list of people to watch Z. I also start texting the doula about when she should come and what we should do. Mr. Wonderful packs bags for Mr. Z for school and for overnight and a friend comes and picks him up. Our doula arrives about that same time and we chat about how we should progress. We get the hospital bag packed and I start making a list of what we need to do ASAP. With my water broken, we know this baby will be coming within the next 24 hours and we are not prepared. On my to-do list for the first was install car seat and pack hospital bag, we were not ready!

My idea labor was to labor more like Mr. Z’s and be at home for as long as possible. The hospital policies here are very different than where he was born and from our earlier visit 9 weeks before, I knew would need to go in much earlier than I wanted. With my water breaking and knowing I was on some artificial clock, we wanted to err more on the side of caution. Who knew, maybe my water had not broken.

So we take a little bit of time, Mr. Wonderful and I go for a little walk and talk about what we should do. We decide that for everyone’s peace of mind we would go in after morning traffic dies down a bit, but before the lunch rush, as we live about 20 minutes away from the hospital. Yes, there are two closer hospitals to us, but I found a doctor that I KNEW was going to listen to me and let me deliver this baby how I wanted and she only delivered at this hospital.

We get to the hospital at about 10.30 am. We have to wait in the ER to be sent to through to admittance, where we have to fill out some paperwork. Finally a nurse comes down and we are allowed to go up to the maternity wing. I ask to walk, not take a wheelchair, because I want my very irregular contractions to pick up. This frustrates the nurse, and we also ask to be allowed straight into the low intervention suite. She states that won’t be happening and puts us in a closet.

To be continued…

Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookies

My favorite cookie is not the Chocolate Chip Cookie. Actually, for years I would not eat them. Seriously, I did not like the bitter tasting chocolate that people used in them. Then one day I discovered MILK chocolate, chocolate chips. LIFE CHANGING! And then I found out I couldn’t have milk… BUT Mr. Wonderful’s favorite cookie is the Chocolate Chip Cookie. (Actually it is any cookie without raisins.)

I stopped buying wheat flours a couple of years ago, and since moving wheat has only entered the house through “processed” foods (wheat bread for the boys, cereals, and the occasional box of crackers). It really is to help me, because as much as I know I can not handle wheat/gluten containing foods, I have no willpower. So even when Mr. Wonderful wants to make cookies, he is usually dumbfounded or annoyed he can’t read my chicken scratch recipe book.

I came home from something and caught him trying to make these cookies. It was cute, but he was flustered. His main issue was we didn’t have any “normal” four in the house.

This recipe, I *thought* was ready months ago, but it was lacking reproducibility. Which is extremely important. If I couldn’t get the cookies to turn out every time, HOW IN THE WORLD would you!?!?!

What I found it came down to was temperature.

If my kitchen was too hot, they turned out one way.

If it was cool, another.

IT WAS FRUSTRATING!

Trying to solve the problem, I found that I was going to have to do something I hate, using a special flour blend. Because, sometime the cookies, need just a little bit more and sometimes just a little bit less. I thought refrigerating the dough would help, and it doesn’t always. But feel free to chill the dough!

I hate it when you see something on Pintrest, and you look at the recipe and it uses some store bought blend. I do not use those or buy them. They are expensive and honestly it is more cost effective to buy individual flours.

This recipe uses a SIMPLE blend, that I think will change how you make gluten free pastries.

I know some people have a hard time finding speciality flours, but I have a tip for you. GO TO YOUR LOCAL ASIAN MARKET! One. They will have all three of the flours this recipe calls for: millet, potato starch, and tapioca flour/starch. Two. They have the cheapest prices on these flours.

A couple of notes on this recipe, first, you MUST mix the xanthan gum into the fat. If you don’t they will be crumbly.

Second, don’t add all the flours at once. Add about 2 2/3 cup and see if you need more. Sticky dough needs more flour. if you need to add more, than the blend you made, just mix equal amounts of the three flours and add about a tablespoon of the mixer at a time until you get the right consistency. Cookies with too much flour will be dry, and taste overly floury.

Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookies
 
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Gluten free cookies that are soft, chewy, and everything you miss about "real" cookies
Ashley Teare:
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Serves: 3 dozen
Ingredients
  • ½ cup (113 g) Room temperature shortening
  • ½ cup (113 g) white sugar
  • ½ cup PACKED (190 g) light brown sugar
  • ½ tsp xanthan gum
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup (147 g) millet flour
  • 1 cup (190 g) Potato starch (*NOT potato FLOUR)
  • 1 cup (130 g) tapioca flour/starch
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • ½ tsp cream of tartar
  • 10-12 oz bag of chocolate chips
Directions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the shortening, sugars, and xanthan gum until fluffy.
  3. Stir in the vanilla and eggs until well combined.
  4. In a medium mixing bowl whisk together the millet flour, and starches until well combined.
  5. In a small bowl mix together the soda, salt, and tartar.
  6. Add about half of the flour to the fat, sugar, and egg mixture, along with all of the soda, tarter and salt. Stir, adding the remaining flour until the dough is no longer sticky.
  7. Stir in, by hand, chocolate chips.
  8. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes rotating after about 8 minutes.
Notes
1) Xanthan gum must be added to the fat otherwise you will have crumbly cookies.
2) 3 cups of the flour blend, should be more than enough. If you are above sea level you might need more. The blend is easy to adjust, by adding equal portions of each flour. Need an extra cup, mix together an additional ⅓ cup of the three flour and starches.
3) If you aren't sure you need more flour, bake a couple, if they spread, you need more flour.

 

 

 

Happiness and Sorrow

I haven’t given an update on our Daily Doings, as life has just been BUSY! Thanksgiving we drove up to Dallas, and spent a few days with my cousin and her family. Mr. Z has a second cousin who is 6 month younger than him and they had a blast chasing each other, riding bikes, and being boys.

Then for Christmas, we drove down to San Antonio to spend it with most of my mom’s side of the family. I believe at the height of the weekend there was 22 people in my grandparents house!

We had a good Christmas, and Mr. Z is enjoying all of his gifts. I think his Aunt won the Best Gift award this year with a set of gears. With his imagination and his desire to understand the world, those gears are constantly being constructed into some new contraption.

In January, Mr. Wonderful and I started school back up. We had a quiet birthday celebration for me. And the next day we had an ER visit.

Mr. Z almost cut the tip of his finger off and got four stitches to reattach the tip. It was terrible and bloody, with tears and screams.

I know that all the medical procedures that had to be performed were necessary, but listening and watching your child scream, yell, and fight against what is happening to him, is not easy. It was repeated, when we got his stitches out. I just hope now that he will be able to understand that hard things are necessary.

Our January has not been a great start for 2017. With an ER visit in our little family, our extended family has had its share of tears. Our hearts have been heavy with the death of my grandpa Dick. On Mr. Wonderful’s side, his grandfather is slowly approaching the other side. His dear mother has been by her father’s side for over a week. We pray for comfort and peace. We wish that we could be closer, so that we can physically mourn with those we love.

I didn’t get a chance to post this before, but Wednesday morning, Mr. Wonderful’s grandfather passes away peacefully in his sleep. We are grateful for his influence in our lives and wish peace to all who knew him.

Fermenting and Whole30

We are EIGHT days from January being over and we are ready. I have being doing Whole30 this month with a tight budget, but it is going well. I have had plenty of “I am giving up” moments but thanks to my friend’s support group, they have helped give me that extra push. Plus Mr. Wonderful has helped a lot!

A couple of weeks ago we got some cabbage, and it’s not something we normally have so I was looking for some things to do with it. Then I remembered that sauerkraut is fermented cabbage and when it is raw it has tons of gut health probiotics. So I made some with the help of my helper!

Then I got adventurous and made a mexican taco topping inspired vegetable ferment. If it works, I will share that one later.

I used to ferment wheat for bread and other things, think sourdough starter. It was a lot of work, and I had problems, but it is something I want to do more of. I think this summer I might bring that back.

One of the great things about fermenting is that it is doesn’t require any new equipment. Most home cooks have a glass jar, knife, salt, and a something to smash down the vegetables. I am looking forward to some probiotic full vegetables.

Whole30 Pork Sausage

I am doing another round of Whole30, this round I am doing with some friends. Well, we are spread all over the place, but we are doing it together. It is really fun to be able to share with the others.

This is not my first Whole30, nor my first January Whole30. One thing that I have noticed with Whole30, is that there are THOUSANDS of recipes. Of those thousands of recipes, most of them call for some random hard to find, unicorn ingredient.

SERIOUSLY!?! Isn’t Whole30 about eating real food, and making real food accessible to busy people? So why does your recipe call for salt mined by virgin unicorn breeders?

This has been something that has been frustrating for me. I find a recipe, it sound delicious, but it calls for some ingredient, that I can not find or is only available at speciality places. I am not one to order or drive hours away to get the one ingredient. So I just don’t make the recipe.

When I am not Whole30-ing, I will play with the recipe, maybe use a similar, yet not compliant ingredient in place of the specialty. One of these experiments lead me to make my own complaint substitute. AND IT IS DELISH!

I really enjoy spicy foods, so this pork sausage has a bit of a kick (I think it could use more, but Mr. Wonderful says it is hot enough). It is great for Italian dishes or with just some sauted zucchini or carrots. Plus, since ground pork is cheaper than pre-made sausages, it is cheaper! So save a little and try this!

Note: I use a mortar and pestle to grind up the fennel seeds. Mr. Wonderful does not like fennel, but if I grind it up, he doesn’t notice it. You can leave it whole if you wish.


Whole30 Pork Sausage
 
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In need of a simple sausage recipe for a Whole30 meal? Try this pork sausage.
Ashley Teare:
Serves: 2 pounds
Ingredients
  • 2 lbs ground pork
  • Spice Mix:
  • 1 tsp Italian Seasoning (OR ½ tsp basil, ½ tsp oregano)
  • 2 tsp Fennel seeds, crushed
  • 2 tsp sea salt
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp garlic granules
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
  • ½ tsp onion powder
  • ½ tsp parsley
Directions
  1. In a small bowl, stir together the spice mix.
  2. In a large mixing bowl sprinkle over the spice mixer and mix until well combined.
  3. Divide into 1 pound portions, use or freeze.
  4. To brown: Over medium heat cook, using the back of a spoon to break up. Cook until no pink remains.

 

Happy New Year!

Are you ready for a totally awesome year?

I am. I have a plan, and I am 7 days strong on my plan. It’s not easy. Only after 5 days did I notice a difference and am I really feeling good. I am enjoying waking up and walking, (slightly hobbling down the stairs). I look forward to my planned meals, and cooking them. My New Year resolution was a perfect one.

I love that my kitchen is clean every morning.

Had you going? Working out, sore muscles, and meal plans are not new to me. But having a clean house, I just don’t know where to start. I have tried FlyLady, and an app I heard about unF* your habitat. I have also tried a good old fashioned chore chart.

Maybe I am just lazy.

Despite some nights when I really just want to go to bed, I suck it up and wash the dishes, wipe down the counters and stove, and sweep the floor. I am slowly working on transitioning it to encompass the kitchen table also. But I feel like it is this catch all, that never gets clean. Maybe when I finish my online classes and the table isn’t also my desk…

Perfect Hamburgers and Ketchup-Whole 30!

I love hamburgers. To me they are the the epitome of summer; grilling, summer nights outside, enjoying family and friends.

buger-ketchup-title

In Texas, summer lasts almost all year round, so having potato salad a burgers for dinner didn’t seem strange on a hot November night (High of 85! It’s definitely not soup weather!)

Ketchup Ingredients
Ketchup Ingredients

I try to avoid corn (I have a weakness for buttery popcorn), it is hard to find an affordable ketchup without sugar or corn syrup. I found a ketchup recipe a few years ago, and I liked it but a half a cup of chopped dates seemed like a lot of sugar to me. Plus does ketchup really need to be sugary?

ketchup

Not at all! Mr. Z loves this ketchup, and it is the perfect topping for a bunless hamburger. I hope you enjoy this simple ketchup recipe, along with this simple Hamburger recipe.

spices-for-burgers

The Ketchup has options to be vegan, onion free, and Low-FODMAP! If you haven’t tried warm ketchup, do it, LIFE CHANGING!

cooking-the-burgers

We currently do not have a grill. (Mr. Wonderful is getting a new smoker for Christmas! Shhh!) Plus, setting it up and prepping the charcoal for hamburgers is more work than I want to do, we use my George Forman Grill I got as a high school graduation present! (I am not telling you how long ago that was…) Cooking them this way is fast and we can have grilled burgers all year round.

burger-2

Perfect Hamburgers and Ketchup-Whole 30!
 
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This simple ketchup recipe will replace the traditional store bought sugar and corn syrup filled ones. The accompanying hamburger recipe is perfect for topping with your homemade ketchup. Adding just enough flavoring these hamburger are much better than just a meat patty.
Ashley Teare:
Recipe type: Whole 30
Cuisine: American
Serves: 4 burgers
Ingredients
  • For the Ketchup:
  • 5 large dates, pits removed (about 60 g)
  • 6 oz tomato paste
  • 14.5 oz can Fire-Roasted Tomatoes, diced
  • ½ cup Bone Broth (or water for vegan or onion free/FODMAPs)
  • 2 TBSP Apple Cider Vinegar
  • 1 tsp Garlic granules*
  • 1 tsp Onion Powder*
  • 1 tsp salt
  • ½ tsp Allspice
  • For the Hamburgers:
  • 1 pound ground beef, 80/20
  • 1 TBSP Dijon Mustard
  • 1 TBSP Almond Flour
  • 1 tsp Garlic Granules
  • ½ tsp Onion Powder
  • Salt and Pepper, to taste
Directions
  1. For Ketchup:
  2. Make sure the pits are removed from the dates, chop or leave whole.
  3. Place all ingredients in a medium saucepan bring to a low boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to low and Simmer for 10 minutes.
  4. Pour the contents, CAREFULLY, into a blender and blend until smooth.
  5. Return the saucepan and simmer for an additional 30 minutes or until desired thickness is achieved.
  6. For Hamburgers:
  7. Place the beef in a large bowl.
  8. Add the Dijon Mustard.
  9. In a separate small bowl, add the remaining spices, mix and then add to the beef.
  10. Mix well and shape into 4 patties, about 3 inches in diameter and about an inch thick.
  11. Grill or pan fry.
Notes
FOR KETCHUP:
VEGAN OPTION: Use water or vegetable broth
FODMAPs: Omit dates and onion powder, replace the garlic with 2 tsp of garlic infused oil in the ketchup. Simmer the ketchup for a minimum of 30 minutes.

 

What we did: November 7 to 13

This last week was fairly uneventful. I am going to purposefully avoid taking politics because, well yeah. I voted, and not for Trump. That’s as much and as far as I want to go.

I have been working on Mr. Z Christmas stocking. I am not sure I am going to finish it, but I am trying my hardest to get his stocking finish for Christmas this year.

christmas-stocking

We also canned some pumpkin! Peeled, cubed, boiled, and pressure canned! I hope to use some for pumpkin pie this holiday season. We found a volunteer seedling, so we planted it. Maybe Texas will give us pumpkins in May!

volunteer-pumpkin

Since, we are cycling often, and sometimes it can rain without notice, I wanted to find a more permanent home for the trailer. Without garage, I had to get creative. It is a little bit of a hassle, but it stays dry, and no bugs.

bike-trailer-new-home

We also, rescheduled our family pictures. I found an AMAZING photographer. She was amazing with Mr. Z. She sent me some proofs and I can not wait until I get the finals!

family-pictures

What We Did: Nov 1-6th

It is November! Where we used to live that meant heavy coats, cold rain, and possibly a snow flurry. Now, in Texas, we are enjoying cooler temperatures and sudden thunderstorms.

Our week started out with me finally giving in and getting into the doctor about my allergies. I usually have been able to just live through the week or two of cold like symptoms. Now, in Texas, everything is bigger, and that means allergies are bigger too. Doctor prescribed me some steroids and 90% of my symptoms are gone. I have now joined the throng of seasonal allergy sufferers.

The next day, I was back at the doctor’s office, but this time with Mr. Z. He is a pretty good kid, and rarely gets so sick I have no idea what to do. It also one of those times where I just freak out, I can’t call my mom to be reassured, and I personally feel weird calling other “mother” type figures in my life with questions. I tried to wait it out, but I called the office to see what they would suggest and they asked me to bring him in.

Now, when you bring your sick kid to the office, I feel like magically they resolve every single symptom and start bouncing off the wall. Well this visit was just like that. It is so frustrating to me because, now I feel like I am that over reacting helicopter parent, which I try not to be.

Anyway, so we canceled our family pictures we had scheduled for the weekend and took a nice and easy weekend. Which was good because it rained all day Saturday.

Sunday biking

Overall our week was gloomy like the fall weather, but Sunday we had a little excitement. We have started riding our bikes to church, it is about a mile away, just straight down the street. Mr. Z looks forward to it, and my hippie dippie inter-soul is happy to save the environment just a little. Well, we didn’t check the forecast before leaving, and as we walk out of church, it starts raining and thundering. So we pedal quick as we can home and luckily made it home before the downpour and the lightening and thunder. Mr. Wonderful, didn’t make out so lucky. He stays for choir practice, and we had a little miscommunication. Now I need to find a good dry cleaners.

Movie time

We also started a new Sunday activity! Popcorn and movie after church, while we wait for daddy! It was fun, and we probably ruined dinner eating popcorn right before, oh well!

Popcorn!

We also did a couple of recipe tests! One I have plan to get out before Thanksgiving.

Recipe testing

Pasta Sauce!

One of our weekly go to meals is pasta night. Which is then followed by pizza night, using leftover pasta sauce.

When we were first married, I tried to make pasta sauce “from scratch”. It was terrible. So I called my mom and got her recipe. I still couldn’t get to taste right. I gave up, and resorted to purchasing overpriced cans of flavored tomato product  pasta sauce.

Although, I do not use this recipe, I keep it. It is just a little reminder of my mom.
Although, I do not use this recipe, I keep it. It is just a little reminder of my mom.

One day a came across a recipe that said it was guaranteed to produce the perfect sauce every time. I tried it, it was so crazy simple, and we liked it! Of course after trying I had to tweek it, and make it our own. Now, I think it is way better, and still crazy easy.

We love the sauce: plain, with meat balls, with homemade pork Italian sausage, on pizza, to dip for Pao Bread, over pasta, over zoodles, over carrot noodles, you get the point, it is the best all-purpose pasta sauce.

pasta-1

This sauce makes a big batch, about enough for the month, like I said we have it weekly. I like to do it in the crock pot, and my small one (4 quart) is the perfect size for it. The sauce freezes perfectly, and will last “indefinitely” according to the USDA. Be ware that the longer you store it the quality will go down.  ALWAYS, always follow good food safety guidelines. The USDA has a great resource here.

There are two ways you can make this, on the stove (quicker, but it will need more attention) or in a crock-pot (dump and go, it’s a no brainer). If we don’t count individual cans, this recipe has a 10 ingredients. Gather them up and a can opener, cause it is Pasta Night!

pasta-two

You will need two onions, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, salt, cracked black pepper, 4-14 oz cans of diced tomatoes (or two 28 oz cans), one 28 oz can crushed tomatoes or tomato puree (not sauce), 12 oz tomato paste, Italian seasoning, and fresh basil (or dry).

ingredients-pasta-sauce

Turn your crock pot onto low, and add a good layer of EVOO to the bottom (about 1/4 cup). Slice up your onions, now they don’t need to be sliced pretty or even, and throw that in. Add the garlic, about 2 tablespoons, maybe 3 whole cloves. I stopped buying whole garlic, cause I can’t stand the smell on my hands for the whole day, so I get the jar of minced garlic. Add the rest of the spices, a generous mounded tablespoon of sea salt, a mounded teaspoon of cracked pepper (not ground black pepper), 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning, and 12 fresh leaves of basil, or about 1 teaspoon dry basil. Give it all a stir and add the cans of diced tomatoes, tomato puree and tomato paste.

spices-and-onions

Let this cook for about 6 hours, stirring occasionally if you are home. I like to crack the lid of the crock-pot about halfway through so some of the liquid will evaporate off.

crack-the-lid

This will give you a chunky sauce or you can puree it all up with a stick blender or in a blender. Be careful, the sauce will be HOT! We tend to like it thick, so I puree it and the simmer it a little longer on high with the lid cracked.

Freeze extra in quart size zipper bags. Lay them flat in the freezer and they will defrost quickly! I put about 2.5 cups of sauce in a bag to freeze and get about 4 bags of sauce.

Simple Pasta Sauce
 
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This is a simple, no fuss pasta sauce that is sure to become your go to for pasta night.
Ashley Teare:
Recipe type: Sauce
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 10 cups
Ingredients
  • 2 small onions, sliced
  • ¼ c extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced or whole
  • 1 heaping Tablespoon salt
  • 1 heaping teaspoon cracked black pepper
  • 2 tsp Italian seasoning
  • 12 leaves fresh basil (or dry about 1 tsp)
  • 4-14 oz cans of diced tomatoes (or two 28 oz cans)
  • 1-28 oz can crushed tomatoes or tomato puree (not sauce)
  • 12 oz tomato paste
Directions
  1. Turn your crock pot onto low, and add a good layer of EVOO to the bottom (about ¼ cup).
  2. Add in the onions, garlic, and spices.
  3. Stir and add the remain cans of tomatoes and tomato paste.
  4. Cook for about 6 hours, stirring occasionally.
  5. If you like a chunky sauce serve as is.
  6. For a uniform texture, you can puree it all up with a stick blender or in a blender. Be careful, the sauce will be HOT!
Notes
For stove top:

Add the EVOO and heat until shimmery, add the onions and cook until translucent.
Add the garlic and spices and stir until fragrant, add in the tomatoes and tomato paste. *add in the fresh basil after the tomatoes*
Simmer on low for about an hour.