Over-Loaded Fresh Tomato Sauce

To me, picking a fresh, juicy, red, ripe tomato from my garden is the best part of summer! There is no other choice for me but to have them featured in my Fruits and Veggies Speed Challenge Instructable! And what could be better than to teach you how to make my delicious "Over-Loaded Fresh Tomato Sauce"? It also includes peppers, oregano and basil that I have growing out in my garden as well! Here is how you can easily make it for your family!

Here they are growing in my yard. I have cherry, slicing, better boy, iron lady and beefsteak tomato plants. I enjoy growing different varieties of tomatoes, but beefsteak are always my favorite and they make for the tastiest sauce! I have sweet banana, yellow and red bell peppers in the center photo and my oregano and basil in the last photo.

3 quart saucepan

strainer

cutting board

sharp knife

spaghetti fork

ladle

pressure cooker (or a dutch oven)

blender, optional

8 ounces fresh Italian sausage links

8 ounces ground beef

fresh tomatoes

1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste

1 onion

fresh sweet peppers

fresh oregano

fresh basil

1 (4-ounce) can mushrooms, well drained

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon chili powder

12 ounces spaghetti noodles

Cut the sausage links into 1-inch chunks.

If your pot is not non-stick, use cooking spray. Add sausage to an electric pressure cooker pot or to a dutch oven. Cook and stir over medium heat until it is partially browned. Add the ground beef. Break up the ground beef as it cooks, being careful not to break up the sausage pieces.

Drain off the fat. Since the electric pressure cooker pot is hot and awkward, I just drain the fat using a paper towel to absorb the fat on the side. Discard the paper towel.

If you like your sauce chunky, remove the skins first. (Put your tomatoes into boiling water, after a minute or so, the skins will start peeling right off.) My husband likes smooth sauce and I leave the skin on. Cut the tops off of about 3 tomatoes. Cut into large pieces. You may substitute a 28-ounce can of diced tomatoes, if you don't have fresh, especially in the winter.

Measure about 2 cups of fresh tomatoes. A little more or a little less is fine! I mound them into the cup to make up for the air space.

Place the tomatoes in the cup of your blender. Pulse or blend until you have the desired consistency. I used blend for about 20 seconds.

I used a small red bell pepper and 2 small banana peppers. Cut off the tops of the peppers. Remove the seeds and membranes. Cut into 1-inch pieces.

Cut off the top and bottom of the onion. Peel off the skin. Cut into 1-inch pieces.

Pull the basil leaves from the stems. Dice the leaves into small pieces. It measured to about one tablespoon of basil.

Strip the oregano leaves from the stems. Mine were small so I didn't chop them. I measured out about one tablespoon.

Now to your meat in the pot, add the pureed tomatoes, tomato paste, the peppers, onions, canned mushrooms, oregano, basil, salt and chili powder. Stir to blend well.

Seal the pressure cooker. Set the pressure to LO pressure, not high pressure. If you set it to high pressure, your sauce can burn. Set the timer for 20 minutes.

If you are using a dutch oven, simmer the sauce, covered, for about 1 hour.

When the 20 minutes has passed, release the pressure. I have this cute little panda bear steam diverter. He protects my cabinets from the steam.

While the sauce cooks, prepare the pasta in boiling water according to package directions. I used regular spaghetti and it took about 11 minutes. When fully cooked, drain the pasta and rinse with cool water. Set the pasta aside. The sauce and the pasta should be finished cooking at about the same time.

Give the sauce a stir. Oh yum!!!! It looks so good!!!!!

Place your pasta on a plate and top with this delicious chunky sauce! You don't need exact measurements while you are preparing it and it will always turn out great! You can change up the vegetables and meats, spicy or mild. In a pressure cooker or a dutch oven. If you don't have fresh oregano and basil, use 1 teaspoon ground oregano and 1/2 to 1 teaspoon ground basil.

This recipe makes about 4 delicious servings. I hope you enjoyed seeing how I make my spaghetti sauce using fresh vegetables from my garden! If you try making it, your family will love you for it!!!!!