when life gives you lemons . . . make spaghetti

Not that you're all dying to know the development of my ailments, but it turns out I am allergic to my antibiotics and thus suffering not just a neck full of swollen lymph nodes but also a rash and a fever. Thus I spent this beautiful day in bed. However, I've just dragged myself into the kitchen to make my own brand of comfort food -- not, perhaps, as perfect as Mom's mac n cheese, but pretty close. (I'd say spaghetti sauce is my comfort food specialty.) Taking a page from my dear former roommate's blog, I thought I'd share the recipe with you in case you ever need a little home-made TLC from the self.

Lara's spaghetti sauce

ingredients:
*1 29 oz can of tomato sauce (I use Hunts) (you can also of course cook down fresh tomatoes)
*1 6 oz can of tomato paste
*1 green pepper
*1 onion (I use red, or Vidalia when they are in season)
*1 or 2 teaspoons of crushed (or fresh) basil
*1 or 2 teaspoons of crushed (or fresh) oregano
*a dash of salt
* 1 lb. ground beef
*olive oil

1. Pour the tomato sauce into a large sauce pan or soup pot. Add one-third of the can of tomato paste, and stir it in. Set the burner to low heat.
2. Add the basil and oregano. I don't know the true proportions; I give a couple of heavy shakes, which leaves a thin layering of maybe three-inches in diamater of each herb. The more, the better, I think; but you can do it to your own taste.
3. Add a shake of salt, too.
4. Chop the pepper into cubes. Throw them in the pot.
5. Peel the onion and chop it into thin slivers. Cry a little. Chop some more. Cry a little more. Then sautee the onions in olive oil.
6. When tender, pour the onions into the sauce pot, avoiding dumping any excess oil if you can. Don't clean the onion pan.
7. Shake some salt into the onion pan -- two dashes would be good. If you have kosher salt, that's even better. Then break the ground beef up into the same pan (it'll absorb the leftover onion juices nicely). Set the temperature to medium and cook the meat until it's brown. As it cooks, break any big chunks into small pieces so they fall into the sauce well.
8. When the meat is ready, drain the fat from the pan and add the meat to the sauce.
9. Stir the sauce well. Then let it sit on low for at least 20 minutes. (Note: I cook my sauce in a Dutch oven, which really heats up. If your sauce is not hot on low, put a lid on it or turn up the heat a bit.) Stir the sauce periodically.
10. Cook some noodles. I usually use thin spaghetti or spaghetti noodles.
11. Serve the sauce over the noodles when all is ready. And enjoy!