Simple Homemade Marinara Sauce with Garlic & Basil

Hello and happy fall!

If you read my blog you already know this—I’m Italian, and I love pasta. While I’ve been making my own homemade noodles for about a year, I’ve been hesitating on the sauce. Who wants that mess? You have to peel tomatoes and the juice splashes everywhere, etc. The list goes on. Or so I thought. Turns out I was wrong. Yes, it can be messy to make your own sauce, but it’s not that bad and it’s totally worth it. I never should have hesitated. I now LOVE making my own Simple Homemade Marinara Sauce with Garlic & Basil.

Not only is it way healthier to eat, but it makes your entire home smell amazing and it tastes so much better than that stuff from the jar. There is nothing better than the mix of fresh-snipped basil and ripe tomatoes with a splash of olive oil. There is a reason pasta marinara is a household staple, and it’s not just because it’s a cheap, quick fix. It’s really good, too. Pasta marinara is so simple, yet when you get a realllllly good noodle with an impeccable sauce, there’s just nothing better for a crisp, cool night!

My garden has been producing an overwhelming amount of tomatoes so my partner and I are hurrying to make sure none of our homegrown tomatoes go to waste. With a half dozen jars of salsa under our belt, we moved onto canning the following marinara sauce recipe.

Go ahead and give it a try. Let me know what you think!

Cheers and happy eating!

Jocelyn

* Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. As always, all opinions are my own!

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Recipe: Homemade Pita Bread

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Who doesn’t love bread? I know we all feel like Oprah in that commercial, “I Love Bread. I. LOVE. BREAD!”

While we enjoy the carb-filled goodness, many of us don’t love making bread. It can be time consuming. It can be frustrating. But, my partner and I have been slowly been perfecting a recipe for our favorite kind of bread—pita bread!

Is it worth making pita at home? Absolutely. Store-bought pita is often several days old and simply doesn’t taste as good as hot out of the oven bread. Warm, toasty home-baked pita is worth the effort. It puffs up perfectly for ‘pocket pita’ sandwiches and pairs great with your favorite hummus.

This pita bread recipe produces a nutty,  rich flavor along with a light, airy consistency. Once you taste it, you won’t be buying pita bread at the store again. …  Okay, at least not when you have the time to make your own.

What are you waiting for? Give it a shot!

Cheers & happy cooking!

Jocelyn

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Recipe: Vegan Homemade Pasta Dough

lasagna_2Hello everyone,

Over the holidays, my partner and I did a lot of binge watching. You can relate, right? One of our new favorite videos is Pasta Grannies on YouTube.

The premise is simple. A British woman goes around recording Italian grannies making pasta. So simple, yet so entirely addictive to watch!

I don’t have any memories of my grandparents making pasta from scratch from my childhood, but my mom does. She told me all about how her childhood Sundays were a full day of rolling out gnocchi and simmering sauce. I suppose watching Pasta Grannies is comforting and helps me feel more connected to my Italian side. Plus, I was happily surprised that many of the pasta recipes they used were vegan.

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