Crockpot Spaghetti Sauce

It only seems fitting to bring in the new year with my very first crockpot/freezer recipe. My family started making our own spaghetti sauce about a year ago to save money and cut out unwanted ingredients in our foods. My husband and daughter have developed a recipe that my family loves. Until yesterday the recipe was never recorded on paper only done by memory by one of them. So my sixteen year old daughter decided she would record it and get the measurements so I could bring it to you! I have always froze the leftover sauce for another time. We always made it on our stove top until yesterday when we used both of our new crockpots.                                                                       Now I can't take the credit for the idea of using the crockpot to cook the sauce. I got that idea from my friend Laura at Momables . Laura has awesome recipes and lots of homemade recipes and tips for meal planning. She even offers a subscription for meals at a great price!
So here it is my family's recipes for Crockpot Spaghetti Sauce.

This recipe is for 5 quarts of sauce. We used a 5 quart crockpot to make the sauce.

Ingredients:
1- 105 ounce can of tomato sauce
3 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. onion salt
4 tsp. basil
4 tsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. onion powder
1 1/2 teaspoon on fresh ground pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
3 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 to 1 tsp. of red pepper flakes if you like it spicy( may omit)

Instructions:
Turn crockpot on low and add whole can of sauce. Add all the rest of the ingredients and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Let cool. Put in gallon freezer bags. Lay flat and freeze. When you are ready to use the sauce defrost in fridge the night before.
It's that simple. Each pot of sauce should yield two bags of sauce. We have a large family so that is what we use. You can divide it anyway you want. Their really is no rule for how many bags you use.

We used two 5qt pots and ended up with four gallon bags and a quart bag of pizza sauce.

 

Here is the finished product. My daughter browned a pound of ground beef, made noodles, and added it to the sauce. This plate was for my youngest girl. She had mozzarella Italian bread, homemade spaghetti and a side salad. Yum! It was delish!

 

I hope you all bring in your New Years with positive thoughts and goals. Happy New Years!

New Years Resolutions

I have never really been one of those people who makes resolutions. This year I decided that I would make some lifestyle resolutions and share them with you. I am going to take some steps to make life easier on the home front. So next year you will be seeing lots of new ideas on the blog. I am so excited to take my blog to the next level.
Here are a few of my ideas for the blog. I of course will continue to do bento lunches! Freezer cooking, crockpot meals, homemade earth friendly cleaners, recycling and so much more. I can't wait to share it with all of you! Take care and have a great rest of the year and I will be back with you soon. 

Christmas Party

Hey there! Tonight we are all going to my daddy's house for Christmas! Woo hoo! Let the celebrations begin! So today I cooked all kind of yummy goodies for tonight. I made sausage balls, little Smokey's wrapped in crescents and mini quiche. My grandma was a big fan of cooking and I think I may have that trait myself.

These are my mini quiche. Being the bento creator I am I couldn't let these leave the house without cute Christmas food picks!

 

And here are my Smokey's wrapped in crescents.

 

My kiddos are out of school for the next two weeks so I won't be making many lunches. I do however have something up my sleeve. I am working on a couple things and resolutions for myself and family. I can't wait to bring that all to you.

Merry Christmas and I will see you all later this week!