Cami's Semi-Homemade Spaghetti

To start gather all your ingredients together. You will also need a package of spaghetti noodles or any other shaped noodle that you like. I recommend Quinoa noodles.

You will need two large pots, one for the sauce and one for the noodles. Salt and olive oil for the noodles to boil in as well. You will also need a cutting board, and butcher knife.

For the 2 15oz cans of tomatoes - Use any kinds of tomatoes you want. You can use a combination of diced and stewed, Italian seasoned, etc.

Here is a picture of my ingredients all laid out.




Step 1. Add oil to one of your pots and set it on the stove on low heat.

Step 2. Dice your onion, and mince your garlic. If you have it in a jar like I do then just measure it out. Add the onion and garlic to the sauce pan with oil in it.

Saute on medium low heat until the onions have sweated and are slightly clear. Be careful not to cook it on too high of a heat or they will just brown and not sweat.

Step 3. Dice your celery and carrot.

I have an example for you to see how you dice the different vegetables.

Wash all your vegetables.

For the celery, Cut one stalk. Trim off the top and cut in a manageable size. I usually cut them about 4" long (as seen top far left). Next I cut the stalk in half lengthwise (top 2nd from left). Then I slice them into sticks (see top 3rd from left). Finally I line up my nice celery sticks and dice them.

For the carrot; Peel carrot and cut into 4" lengths (bottom row, far left). Next I cut the carrot in half lengthwise (bottom row, 2nd from left). Then I cut those sections into sticks. Finally I line up the sticks and dice them.

Step 4. Add your diced celery and carrot to the onion and garlic. Stir to combine. Continue to cook on Medium Low heat.

Step 5. How you prepare your mushrooms is up to you. To clean them I simply wipe them off with a dish cloth. If you buy the already sliced ones they are already cleaned. For this dish you can either slice the mushrooms or dice them. I dice min in order to disguise them for the more picky eaters. Add mushroom to pan.

Step 6. Clean and dice your pepper.

I have shown how I clean and dice my peppers. I cut off the sides of the pepper, and throw away the core. Next I remove the bitter pith that clings onto the side.

Next, I cut the peppers into sticks, and then dice them. The size of the dice is up to you. Add the diced peppers to the pan.








This is what your pan will look like now.

Mix your vegetables well.






Step 7. Prepare your spaghetti sauce, canned tomatoes, and spaghetti seasoning.







First add seasoning packet and toss the vegetables to coat them. Next add in your spaghetti sauce and the undrained canned tomatoes. Stir to combine. Taste to check for flavors. Add garlic salt, and pepper to taste. Put lid on and let simmer while you cook your noodles.



For your noodles bring a large pot of water to boil with salt and about 1T of oil. Cook according to package directions.

When done, drain and serve with sauce.

Note: for those that want a meat sauce. Simply add 1 pound of seasoned cooked ground beef to the sauce. If you want to cook it with the sauce then add the raw beef after step 2. Season liberally with garlic salt and pepper then when it is browned (drain if needed) continue on to step 3.