Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

When I planted tomatoes this year, I figured we would just eat whatever we got fresh. Then our neighbor told us how she uses her tomatoes to make homemade spaghetti sauce. It sounded like a great way to use up all those tomatoes, so I gave it a try!

This was my first year successfully growing Roma tomatoes. Well, sort of. I was able to harvest a bunch, but soon after my plants were hit with blight. I tried to salvage all my big green tomatoes, but they all rotted on the counter within a couple of days… It was pretty sad.

Fortunately, I did have enough tomatoes from that first harvest to make a couple jars of spaghetti sauce! I didn’t follow any particular recipe. My neighbor told me what she does, so I basically just followed her general instructions.

I had thrown all of my tomatoes in the freezer so they would keep until I was ready to make the sauce. I pulled them out of the freezer, cut them in half, and spread them out on a cookie sheet covered with foil. In hindsight, I should have cut them in half BEFORE I froze them. I definitely will next year! If you don’t have garden tomatoes on hand, you could use store bought tomatoes. Just roast them for a shorter time if they aren’t frozen.

Roasting Your Tomatoes

Next I added some fresh herbs from my garden (a little oregano, sage, thyme, and basil) along with some minced garlic and salt. Then I stuck everything in the oven to roast for a while at 400 degrees. I didn’t even keep track of how long it roasted… I was processing tons of zucchini and listening to an audio book while they roasted, so I’m guessing they were in there for around 40 minutes. Maybe longer. Just keep checking on it until they look pretty well roasted, like so:

Blending Up Your Sauce

There will be some juice in the pan, and that’s ok. You actually need that so your sauce doesn’t get too thick. I poured everything into the blender and blended until smooth. Then I poured it into a bowl and added some additional spaghetti seasoning, salt, and honey to taste.

After that I poured them into a couple mason jars, topped them with these cool lids, and stuck them in the freezer to use later.

I used a jar the other day with one of the spaghetti squash from our garden and it was delicious!! Next year I think I’ll try a little harder to protect my tomato plants from the rain, and hopefully we can skip the blight and get some more tomatoes so we can enjoy some more yummy homemade spaghetti sauce.

I thought I’d use the tomato plants I grew from cuttings in the garden next year, but I’m pretty sure I’m too lazy to keep them alive. They won’t survive the winter at this rate. I might try growing some from seeds next year.