Holiday Gifts 2009-Marinara Sauce

What to make for a holiday gift? It took me a while to decide what it would be. I wanted something simple, and something that wouldn't cost me a ton of money. I also wanted it to be something that I could give to many of my friends that have special diets. What would be more appropriate than to make marinara sauce. I grew up on this stuff....homemade canned tomatoes from our huge garden waiting for Sunday to be opened and eaten. You could smell the sauce stepping outside your door. It was a tradition on Sunday, in my family, and in many families around, to eat pasta with homemade sauce on Sunday at, no later than 2:00 pm.

The recipe is simple, unfortunately, I don't measure when I cook, but I will give you approximates based on 2-14.5 ounce cans of tomatoes.

2 cans San Marzano tomatoes

2 garlic cloves crushed

1 bay leaf

2 tablespoons dried basil

2 teaspoons oregano

splash of olive oil

salt & pepper to your liking

Simmer for no less than 2 hours and viola....homemade marinara sauce that can be used for pasta, pizza, eggplant parmigiana, chicken parmigiana, or as my one friend who received a bottle told me she did with the sauce--put it on a brown rice tortilla, topped with cheese and into her toaster oven.