grandma’s spaghetti sauce

You’re going to tire of hearing about the garden by the end of the summer. I’m becoming obsessed with it. I just love the act of walking outside with a silver bowl, picking any and all ready-to-go vegetables. My daily harvesting has become a meditative ritual for me, and I’m so happy to find my hands engaged in cooking again. My hobbies really do wax and wane, don’t they?

In June I went to my family reunion where we hold an auction each year. Proceeds from the sales go toward supplying food and drink for future get-togethers. While there, I snagged a jar of my grandmother’s homemade spaghetti squash for under $10. Seems a bit pricey, I know, but you don’t know my grandmother. And even I don’t know her secret ingredient (though I’m guessing it’s sugar).

I decided to use my grandmother’s sauce to create a pasta dish – but without the pasta. I’m trying to eat mostly from the ground right now, and so noodles haven’t been making an appearance on my dinner plate. If they do, it’s sparingly. In a pan, I wilted a bunch of swiss chard and green beans from the garden along with a can of white beans from my pantry. Then I added grandma’s sauce for flavor.

At the last minute, I tossed in a MorningStar crumbles packet. Even though that’s a processed food (and pretty high in sodium), I thought it’d give the dish the meaty flavor it was looking for. I was not disappointed.

This cooking session inspired me to request several jars of spaghetti sauce from my grandma. Or at least her recipe. Turns out my aunt is doing most of the cooking these days (afterall, grandma is 95 years old), and she’ll gladly make me sauce in exchange for jars and lids. Sounds like a fair bargain to me.

I feel so much better with this way of eating. If only gardens could be year-round. Good thing we’ll be soon planting fall crops!