Goulash

Another family favorite using dad's bottle tomatoes from his garden in Arizona!

1 lb ground beef
2 qts of Dad's Bottled Tomatoes (or 1 large can 64 oz of Tomato Juice)
2 cups Elbow Macaroni
1 Clove Garlic, minced
Salt
Pepper

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Cook pasta. Season and brown ground beef with garlic. Drain fat. Drain pasta, in the large pot, put pasta, and ground beef. Puree bottle tomatoes in food processor (1 bottle at a time, unless you have a massive food processor.) Add tomatoes to pasta and beef. Heat thoroughly.

You can stop here and serve. Or this is where the fun begins. You can add anything you like. We have put in canned corn, or canned beans. Shredded cheese on top is good too. I even threw in olives once to get Nicholas to eat it. Be creative!

Super Easy Spaghetti Sauce

I have been really tired of canned spaghetti sauce. I just don't like it. So we haven't had spaghetti for a long time. But I was in a bind and needed a quick dinner so this is what I came up my own sauce. It was simple and yummy and my whole family LOVED it!

1 lb ground beef
1 quart jar of bottled tomatoes (from my dad's garden in Arizona) (or 32 oz stewed tomatoes)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small onion chopped
Italian Seasoning
Salt
Pepper

Saute garlic and onions in a large pot. Add ground beef and season with salt and pepper and brown. Drain fat. In your food processor or blender, puree tomatoes to remove chunks. (My kids are anti-chucks but you may like some chunks...) Add tomatoes to beef. Season with Italian Seasoning. Bring to a boil and simmer with out a lid to boil off excess water from tomatoes. You may want to taste and see if you need more salt or pepper. Serve over spaghetti noodles.

You can also get really creative and add other vegetables like carrots, peppers, or what ever you can think of! I would love to know what you add.

Enjoy!