Thursday, October 25, 2012

A Fantastic Meal for my Fantastic but Sick Superhero

So Superhero #1 has hand, foot, mouth disease.  It's a viral infection that creates spots on your skin, in your mouth, high fevers and general miserable body aches.  We'll know if it infects the house in a few days.  He hasn't eaten at all today so I asked him if he could pick between chili, chicken, or spaghetti which food would he like?  He picked spaghetti and he wanted my homemade sauce.  I keep trying and tweaking the recipe and this one will probably be tweaked more.  It's been cooking 3 hours now and is amazing!  I make my own Italian sausage so I know what goes into it.  Today I didn't have time for it to sit overnight so I fried the sausage right away and added it to the sauce.  I didn't have quite enough beef so I added some ground up grouse that my Hubby had provided.  You can't taste the "gamey" flavor when it's mixed into chili or spaghetti.  So I use the meat, he's excited, and we get natural food!

I literally looked what was in our fridge and since we've been living/eating this way for awhile I always make sure we have a few staples in our fridge.  Among them are fennel, onions (red and yellow), celery, carrots, bell peppers, tomatoes, minced garlic, red wine (for the sauces since my hubby and I don't drink alcohol), fresh herbs, and a full spice rack.  So while it may seem strange to just "whip this up"...once you get used to eating and living with whole unprocessed foods...it's not hard and it becomes kind of exciting.  I like trying new things.  Another benefit of using unprocessed foods is that you know the nutrients haven't been processed (heated) out of the food.  So my Superheroes are getting more vitamins and minerals than they may get from a standard jar sauce.  I can control the temperature for cooking and control the quality of ingredients.  We all want the best for our kids so why not the best ingredients and food as well!?!

So tonight we'll eat this amazing sauce served over spaghetti squash (we don't eat noodles since they are processed food).  My kids love the spaghetti squash as well and it seems to fill you longer.  If you get a large one you can mix some leftover spaghetti squash into an omelet in the morning.  See my recipe for that here...

Let know know what you think of the sauce and sausage and in the mean time...Enjoy!


Homemade spaghetti sauce

8 cups fresh tomatoes (or the equivalent of canned stewed)
2 stalks celery, diced
2 stalks fennel, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 cup roasted red bell pepper
1 medium onion diced
4 teaspoons garlic
1 (8oz) can tomato paste
1 1/2 cup red wine
3-4 bay leaves
1/4 cup dry oregano
1/4 cup dry parsley
2 tablespoons fresh parsley

3 tablespoons basil
2 tablespoons garlic powderfresh ground black pepper

Simmer fresh veggies first for about 5-10 minutes.  Then add the red wine and the spices/herbs.  Simmer on low with the large stockpot lid barely venting for 4-6  hours.  Add fried Italian sausage as soon as you can so the flavors can meld.



Homemade Italian sausage

2 lbs ground pork, beef, turkey, grouse, pheasant (whatever meat you have on hand)]
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 teaspoons minced garlic
1/4 teaspoons ground pepper
2 1/2 teaspoons ground paprika
1/4 teaspoon anise seed
1/2 teaspoon fennel seed
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon and 1 3/4 teaspoon olive oil 
optional: add a little (2 tsp.) bacon grease if you have really lean meat like grouse, pheasant, bison, etc.

I ground up my grouse in the food processor so I could mix 1 pound of grouse with 1 pound of ground beef.  Mix all ingredients together and let it sit overnight.  If you don't have time to wait...it will still work but the flavors won't be as strong.  Fry up until browned.  Drain grease and add to spaghetti sauce or eat plain.

Enjoy!

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