What’s for Dinner? This Time, I Have Sauce.
In my last post, we discussed one of life’s great unanswered questions.
What’s for dinner?
Unfortunately, nobody solved the larger problem. Apparently we still have to decide again tomorrow. And the day after that. Honestly, it seems excessive.
But today? I have an answer.
Pasta.
More importantly, pasta with a marinara sauce that I have been making for more than 25 years.
Yes, twenty-five.
And somehow, despite feeding a family for all those years, I don’t think I have ever actually shared this recipe. Not even with my kids.
So, kids, if you’re reading your mamma’s blog — congratulations. The family marinara secrets are finally being released to the public. Hit the print button.
A Little Italian Comfort in a Pot
This isn’t one of those sauces requiring twelve pounds of tomatoes, an Italian grandmother, a wooden spoon handed down through six generations and an entire Sunday afternoon.
Although I fully support that lifestyle.
Mine is the sauce I make when regular life is happening. It uses simple pantry ingredients, comes together easily, and tastes like you put considerably more effort into dinner than you actually did.
Those are my favourite kinds of recipes.
My Easy Marinara Sauce
You’ll need:
1 tsp olive oil
½ cup finely diced onion
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp dried basil
½ tsp rosemary
½ tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 can tomato sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
On low heat, slowly cook the onion in the olive oil. Add the garlic, basil, rosemary and oregano. When the onion begins to soften, add the brown sugar and continue cooking for another few minutes.
Add the tomato sauce and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Then let it simmer gently so all those flavours have a chance to get acquainted. Once it’s hot and delicious and you’ve probably sampled it with the wooden spoon more times than strictly necessary, serve it over your favourite pasta.
Simple ingredients. Easy dinner. Dreaded question answered.
And yes, I have a printable version of the recipe for you too. I’ll add the download link below so you can print it and tuck it away somewhere safe.
Preferably somewhere you’ll remember 25 years from now.
But Obviously, I Had to Craft the Recipe
After making my little pasta card, I wasn’t quite finished playing with those adorable Spellbinders foodie characters.
Greeting cards are wonderful, but our dies, stamps and embossing folders don’t actually know they’re supposed to be greeting-card supplies.
So I made a recipe card.
And now I may have started something.
The little ingredient characters are perfect for decorating recipes, and the Al Dente embossing folder ties this one beautifully back to the pasta card. I carried over the red sauce, cream pasta background and black matting so the two projects feel like they belong together.
But here’s where this idea gets really fun.
Imagine creating an entire handmade recipe box filled with decorated recipe cards. Pasta characters for your favourite pasta dishes. Little vegetables for soups and sides. Cakes and cupcakes for treasured baking recipes. Coffee-themed supplies for drinks and brunch recipes.
You could also bind them together and create your own handmade recipe book.
And suddenly that collection of food-themed dies and stamps has a whole life beyond greeting cards.
It would also make a pretty fabulous gift. Fill a handmade recipe box with favourite family recipes and give it to a child moving out, a newlywed couple, a grandchild, or someone just starting to cook. Add to it over the years as new favourites earn their place.
Because recipes have a funny way of becoming part of our family stories.
Even the ridiculously easy marinara sauce that your mother has apparently been keeping from you for 25 years.
Sorry, kids.
The recipe is on the blog now. You’re on your own
Download a printable copy of
And with that, we’ve reached the end of this little crafty pasta adventure—but perhaps the beginning of something new. One recipe card, one very well-loved marinara recipe, and suddenly I’m wondering how many favorite recipes could find their way out of the kitchen and onto the craft desk. This might just be the beginning of the recipe end of this blog… and honestly, I’m not mad about it.
Stay tuned…
