For Valentine’s Day, my husband and I promised not to spend any money on each other. The two of us, along with the kids, made handmade cards, and it turned out to be the best Valentine’s Day I can recall. Flowers and chocolates are nice, but these gifts were truly from the heart.
But, even without the painted pictures from the kids and a sweet poem from my husband, I am fully aware that my family loves me. I know this, because they don’t criticize my cooking…and I am one lousy cook.
The other night, while making spaghetti and meatballs, I realized halfway through cooking that I didn’t have the key ingredient for my sauce. That ingredient being the sauce itself. In this house, made from scratch is an unused term. Prego does it much better than I ever could.
So, what do you do when frozen meatballs are starting to thaw on the bottom of your Crock Pot and there’s no Prego in the house? Add some Hormel Chili, and a jar of tomato soup, of course!
And, my husband, my son and my daughter ate that “sauce”…and I use that term real lightly… over whole wheat pasta without complaint. If that isn’t love, I don’t know what is.
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Kathy
Don’t worry. I’m the same way. The night before our wedding, I made my husband tuna casserole (sadly, the meals never got any better during our 15 yrs. of marriage). We sat down and he ate a good amount of it, then said “I think something’s missing.” It was then I realized I’d forgotten the tuna. I felt bad, but in my defense, it was kind of a stressful week with wedding plans. Anyway, I’m no Julia Child either. If your family ate the surprise sauce, that IS love!
holly
my love for you just doubled in size.
ragu is my gal. why fix what ain’t broke? my mom used it, as did her mom, as did her mom before her. and….yup…her mom. but of course, she had to travel to the future to use the sauce. clever people my ancestors. no, i didn’t inherit it.
but i have taken to keeping cans of chopped tomatoes in the house for just such an occasion. ain’t *no mishap* a little can of chopped tomatoes can’t cover up!
i also go through garlic salt such that it has started to seep through our pours. the plus side is i have vampire-safe children.
chefmom
Oh Momo…..All you need to keep for emergencies are these items:
1 Large can crushed or diced tomatoes
2 cloves chopped or crushed garlic mixed with 1 Tbsp. water
2 Tbsp. olive oil
Dried (or fresh basil)about 1 Tbsp.
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp. sugar
This takes only 10 minutes and it’s awesome. Saute the garlic/water mixture in the olive oil. Don’t let it brown, it breaks down the flavor to much. Add the tomatoes and bring to a boil. Add the basil. Simmer on low for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the sugar last. The only reason you add sugar, is that the longer you cook tomatoes, the more acid you bring out. The sugar cuts the acid. When people make sauce for hourse, it tenders to be either very acid or very sweet.
It is true love when they eat what we call a “wing it”. ANd believe me, even as a trained chef, Many of my wing-it’s have not been well accepted!!:)
Maureen
Aw, now THAT’S true love!!!!
The MomBabe
That IS love.
Amy
Oh that is love! And I’m with you, why bother doing homemade when Prego is so good? I’m the same way about lasagna, Stouffer’s all the way!
Dan
Either that or their taste buds have deteriorated from years of abuse.
Maria
Yes – what chef mom said, except a bit of oregano and no sugar here. 🙂
Jenna Consolo
Hi! I remember you from the Buzz! Haven’t been there in a while, but I stumbled upon your blog and love this post. I think your idea was genius! That kind of creative thinking on the spot means you might be Julia Child after all!
OHmommy
LOL…. you are soooo way smarter than I am. I would have never thought of that. Was it good?
wornoutwoman
Thats so sweet! Love is blind and apparently has high tolerance for bad taste too! I love it that they eat what you fix, no matter what! It’s the same at my house too!
Corey~living and loving
LOL that is totally how I would have fixed it as well. LOL
happy weekend.
Moonshadow
MOMO! What you prepared is just a version of Spaghetti Red…
http://www.mountain-breeze.com/kitchen/cookin/17.html
The site above isn’t where I originally read about it, but I don’t remember where that was, and it was in the last week.
Many moons ago when I was a new bride we didn’t have much money and I used to use hamburger and tomato soup to make spaghetti sauce all the time.
Redneck Mommy
That is love. Maybe you could teach that trick to my kids. They sneer and ask for me to go and get a pizza whenever they see me even go near the stove.
I’m glad you had a lovely V day.
newnorth
The sauce sounds like it would be aight. Still, no complaining just to tease you, that is love 🙂
BusyDad
Isn’t silence the first sign of shell shock? When your kids start running away from anything chunky and red in about 5 years, you will know why 😉
Lin
Boy can I ever relate! I’m no great cook either, and I’m more than happy to turn the apron over to my hubby who is much better in the kitchen than I will ever be.
Many moons ago, when I was first married, I tried to surprise my new hubby with some blueberry pancakes for breakfast.
My mom used to make them for us but she never allowed any of us in the kitchen while she was cooking, so I never actually saw how she did it.
I ended up making some regular pancake batter from a box, but then I dumped in an entire can of blueberry pie stuff, and lordy lordy was that batter ever BLUE!
There was no way those pancakes were going to turn out right, so I got treated to Denny’s instead. 😉
Angie
Someday, I too will learn to cook! Sounds like you did much better than I would have. I would have just thrown in the tomato sauce, a little water, presto! No taste “sauce”! Isn’t it great to be loved?
David
Hey, what’s wrong with Hormel and tomato soup? Sounds great to me! Kind of a mix between Skyline and regular spagehtti. Your family should feel lucky to have such a creative woman in the house… and I know they know how lucky they are. Way to go Momo.
Mimi aka pz5wjj
Yeah, I think that’s what they call Chili-mac spaghetti?
Plus you get extra points for being creative!
hottdog
that is awesome. seriously.
{*_*}
Christine
meanwhile you just gave me a delayed valentines…gift: the joy in knowing that there is in fact one other person out there who (like me) does not do anything in the kitchen “from scratch”
love you even more momo!!