Dei Fratelli Products: Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

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You might not think of giving everyday items as a gift during the Holiday Season, but, with this economy, more and more of us are grabbing items out of our stockpile and putting them into gift baskets. As a matter of fact, the LA Times featured me in an article last year about how I was giving gift baskets with essential items to my friends and family members!

There’s nothing more essential that a family needs than food and if you have a family that you are giving to that’s struggling to simply make ends meet, I’m sure they’ll be appreciative of a “food” themed gift basket that includes items that they can make several meals out of.

Not only can you give a product, but, you can create cute recipe cards and include a few of your own family favorites. One of mine I love to share is my Homemade Spaghetti Sauce recipe:

Ingredients

salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
1- 1 1/2 hamburger
1 14.5 oz. can Dei Fratelli Chopped Tomatoes with Onions and Garlic
1 14.5 oz. can Dei Fratelli Diced Seasoned Tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, chopped (yeah, we LOVE garlic!)
2 15 oz. cans Dei Fratelli Tomato Sauce
1/2 box of Barilla Spaghetti Noodles (substitute with fav noodles)
*Serves 4-6 people. Great reheated or frozen for another meal.

Heat skillet and brown, salt and pepper hamburger, drain. Coat the same skillet with EVOO and heat garlic. Add Dei Fratelli chopped and diced tomatoes as well as Dei Fratelli Tomato Sauce. Cover and let the sauce simmer for at least 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Once dinner is ready to serve cook Barilla noodles. Serve with salad or Tomato Basil Garlic Bread. One thing that I love about Dei Fratelli is that they are located in Ohio and I love supporting Ohio businesses! The three processing plants are located in NE Ohio and have their own greenhouses. However, they also have over 30 farmers who are located within 30 miles of the processing plants that they purchase tomatoes from! This means all tomatoes are processed within 6-10 hours of harvest – you just know you are getting a fresh product from Dei Fratelli! Dei Fratelli is a company that I hadn’t heard of until I worked with them last year. Their products are fresh, nutritional, and delicious, and I know that when I use their products in my recipes, we are getting the best product possible.

My husband LOVES his Manwich served with Mac N Cheese, and he is very hard to impress. One fall night I made the Dei Fratelli Manwich and once I dumped the sauce into the skillet with the hamburger I could smell the spiciness (is that even a word?!?). I was a little skeptical that Mini-Me was going to eat it – but, boy was I surprised! She at more Dei Fratelli Manwich than she had Hunt’s brand. That’s saying a lot coming from a 3-year-old! My husband also noticed the difference and said he preferred the Dei Fratelli over the competition…so our family is now a Dei Fratelli Manwich household!

Another Dei Fratelli product we tried was salsa. We aren’t really much for salsa so I didn’t just want to eat it with tortilla chips, I wanted to use it in a recipe. So I added about 2 tablespoons to our Steak Taco Salads. I tell you what, this made the dish! I don’t like to add a lot of spices to our foods simply because of Mini-Me. Although she loves Chipotle and Skyline she tends to be a little pickier when it comes to Mommy’s cooking! So needless to say, she ate her salsa with chips and enjoyed it!