(I guess ‘recipe’ is a little bit of a stretch, though. More like ‘suggestions for cooking.’)

Uh, maybe don't click to embiggen - I did and WOW, my stove wants washing. Tomato sauce makes a MESS.

Ingredients:

2 large cans crushed tomatoes
2 large cans pureed tomatoes
2 cans tomato paste
1 lb ground beef
1/2 lb ground lamb
1/2 lb ground sweet Italian sausage
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 carrots, chopped
2 green bell peppers, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 cup red wine
1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley
3 tablespoons sea salt
1 tablespoon pepper
3-4 tablespoons Italian seasoning (to taste)
Olive oil
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Optional Ingredients:

Mushrooms
Bay leaves
Olives
Spicy Italian sausage
Veal
Celery

Instructions:

In a large (like, really large) pot, add the crushed and pureed tomatoes. You can add the tomato paste at this point, too, if you want. Bring to a boil and then drop the heat down to low to simmer.

In a separate pan, brown the beef, the sausage and any other meat you may be adding. When it’s browned, drain and add to the tomatoes in the pot.

Sautee the onion, garlic, carrots, peppers and optional other root veggies in some olive oil. Add a generous pinch of sea salt and keep the lid on until the vegetables are softened. Add to the tomatoes and meat in the pot.

Add the spices (except for the parsley) & the rest of the salt, and add about half the wine. If you haven’t already added the tomato paste, add it now. Stir well and ignore for the next hour or two.

When the sauce has been simmering for about two hours, do a taste test and add more salt/pepper/spices if necessary. You can also add the rest of the wine, if needed. At this point you can add the parsley as well. Simmer for another hour or two.

Just before the three hour mark, add the Parmesan and stir.

After around three or four hours, the sauce should be pretty much the most delicious thing you’ve ever tasted. Turn off the heat, make some pasta, add sauce and enjoy.

I had this Vox blog, right? And it was just sitting there, last post dated early 2007, and I was thinking I should just close the account when it occurred to me: I could repurpose the blog. That way, I could have a recipe blog without actually starting anything new! It is just like recycling.

So now you can read all about the things I’m making in the oven (I’ll omit recipes which are primarily composed of smoke and misery). Behold: it is Slightly Less Unhealthy.