eye spy...something beginning with J

And it's a Jar.



Freshly filled with homemade tomato/pasta/pizza/all purpose sauce. This is a very simple sauce we switched to a couple years ago, and we use it all the time. It's based on a recipe by Mario Batali for....some parenting magazine that went of print -- I'm thinking Child? Or maybe Today's Parent? Not sure. Anyway, it's super-easy, and one batch fills that (32 ounce) jar twice (half goes in the jar, half into the freezer to refill the jar when it empties). All you do is:

heat 1/4 cup olive oil over low-med heat. Add 1/2 large onion, finely chopped, then 3-5 cloves of garlic, also finely chopped. Soften for about 10 min. Add 2 carrots, peeled and grated, and 1 tablespoon thyme (dried). Cook another 10 minutes, and add 2 28 ounce cans of crushed tomatoes. Simmer for half an hour or until you remember that it's on the stove.

Add more or less of anything, and chop/grate as finely or coarsely as you like. I've always made it pretty smooth because Emily was tiny when I started making it. And she still hates big pieces of onion, but will eat the onions in ths without complaint. The tomatoes you use are important; I use a store brand organic, and when it was off the shelves for a few months I tried several brands (organic and non) and none of them worked as well for me. Hopefully my brand will never disappear again!

This week's eye spy theme brought to you by Lauren of Lauren Williams Handmade!