The following recipe is a Bolognese Meat Sauce via the boy’s mom with a little bit of my own addition and experimentation.


- 1 Large Can of Diced Tomatoes
- 1 Small Can of Diced Tomatoes
- 1 Small Can of Tomato Paste
- 2 Pounds (give or take) of Ground Beef
- Half a Very Large Onion
- 3 Sticks of Celery
- A Handful of Baby Carrots
- A Handful of Baby Portobello Mushrooms
- Wheat Pasta
- Cayenne Pepper
- Crushed Chili Flakes,
- Sweet Basil

It does take quite a long time for the sauce to stew. So if you’re planning on having it for dinner, I would recommend starting it around or after lunch so it can brew and stew and get into a lot of yum.

First, dice up all the onion, celery, and carrots.
The mushrooms I left a little chunkier and less dice-e-er.
If you don’t like a particular item in this list, you can totally substitute whatever veggie you want! It will still be yum. I just happen to super love onions so I put a lot of that in.

Next in a very large pot, I add about 1/3th cup of Olive Oil. Give or take. And put in a lot of garlic. I just rampantly throw it in cuz I loves the garlic, but if you don’t, you can use less.
Let that badboy cook and get all scented garlicly in yo face, yo!

Throw in the diced veggies (except the mushes) and let it cook for about 10 minutes or until the onions start to get clear.

Now throw in the mushes!
Cook for 3-5 minutes, until they’ve soaked in some of the juices.

Then we throw in the meat! ALL at once, oh yeah, bebe, just like that!

Also add the basil and a dash of the spices.

When the meat is about 75% cooked, and looks like this, throw in the tomato cans, minus the cans!

Mix it around for a while and let it cook on a low heat for about an hour. Stir occassionaly. This if my favorite part cuz it requires little attention.

After an hour, turn off the heat and mix. Allow it to sit there until it’s time for dinner! It will still be warm, but if you want it hotter, turn the heat to low and let it get hotter.

So when dinner comes around, time to make zee pasta!

Boil water, add salt, add pasta!
The salt will help keep the pasta from sticking together while cooking. No fancy salt is needed, regular girl with umbrella in the rain salt shall do!

Next, dump the pasta into some cold water and strain it. Wash the salt off good. (:
Put in a bowl and pour a little olive oil onto it. The olive oil will keep the pasta from sticking together while it sits on the counter, in your refigerator, tummy, loved one.

Plate, bowl, and serve!

The ingredient list is fairly simple and is mostly things I have on hand. A medium sized spaghetti squash, a bunch a ripe roma or vine tomatoes, a medium onion, couple cloves of garlic, a bunch of fresh basil and some extra virgin olive oil.

First off, halve and clean your spaghetti squash. Discard all the seeds and fibers. It’ll look something like this:

Then stick them in a microwave safe container with about a half cup of water, cut side down please, and wrap it tightly with syran wrap. You want to trap all that good steam in there for super fast cooking.

Now nuke it in the microwave for a solid 13 minutes. I know that seems like a mightly long time for anything in the microwave, but it really steams it perfectly. If you’re weirded out by microwave radiation, feel free to roast the halves in the oven, but it takes 5 times as long and I don’t find much of a difference in taste or texture.

While the squash is happily steaming away, nows the time to whip up a quick fresh tomato sauce for it. Give your onion, tomato and garlic a good small dice. Start by sauteing your onions in some extra virgin olive oil over medium-high heat. Give them about a 5 minute head start to get soft before adding the finely minced garlic. Once you can start to smell the garlic, add in all the diced tomatoes and juices. Like this. Be sure to stop and admire Firat’s fine tomato dicing. Oh and photography.

Give this a shimmy shake and let it cook down for 5-10 min on medium heat while the squash halves cool down a bit. Now’s a good time to add in your salt/pepper. Also, if my tomatoes arn’t beautifully in season, I’ll throw in a 1/2 tsp of sugar to help balance out the flavors.

Back to that squash. Those suckers are reeeeally hot, so be careful with this next step. When they’re cool enough to handle (or you’re impatient enough to grab one with a towel) carefully scrape out the strands of the squash with a fork. I like to do one side, then the other, before dumping all the strands from one half out into a bowl. I find it helps keep the strands as long and intact as possible.

Now the final step! Dump the faux spaghetti strands into your sauce and stir to coat evenly with the sauce. I throw in a handful of chopped basil and another swirl of your good extra virgin olive oil to finish it. Make sure to check your salt/pepper seasonings now, since the squash can be a little bland. And don’t forget to throw on some freshly grated parm cheese!

We served ours up tonight with some grilled chicken tenders to complete our light and delicious dinner!

Ok, it probably won’t replace pasta for everyone, but the squash retains a nice al dente bite to it that’s crisp and fresh without being chewy like pasta sometimes can. And its extremely versatile. It can hold up to any pasta sauce, like alfredo or pesto. Some nights we add small bites of fresh mozzarella to the fresh tomato sauce for a caprese style squash side dish. It can be served hot, like a pasta dish, or room temperature like a pasta salad. Any way you make it, I hope you guys enjoy this as much as we do!