Healthy and Deliciously Simple Tomato Sauce

The best memories of my childhood often included my grandmother making a homemade tomato sauce. Recently, I just tried to recreate it and was very successful. The recipe I am using makes a lot of sauce, so you can tweak it to make as much or little as you need.

Ingredients: 

6 cans of whole peeled tomatoes

3 cans of tomato purree

1/2 can of tomato paste

1 can of water

2 tbsps of salt

3 tsps of black pepper

1 tbsp of sweet dried basil(If you happen to have fresh that's even better)

1 tbsp of parsley (again fresh is awesome but dried works too)

4 tsps of sugar

1 shot of red wine

1 big garlic clove, cut into four

2 tbsps of olive oil
2 tbsps of baking soda

Directions: On medium heat, put olive oil and cook garlic for 5 minutes. Then add the cans of tomatoes, water, wine, and spices. Cook this  on medium low to low(adjust as needed once it starts to bubble) stirring often, especially remembering to scrape the sides, bottom, and top so nothing burns. After two hours, remove the garlic and put the whole tomatoes in a blender. Return to pot and mix everything together. Taste it to see if you need to add any more spices, and if way too acidic add the baking soda and stir. Cook this for another 2 hours on low and it is ready to go. If so desired you can add meatballs. You can serve this over your favorite pasta with cheese, or freeze it so you always have a homemade sauce ready to go at any time.
~Katrina