Mom's Spaghetti Sauce

"Hi Rae!  I miss you!

Here's my spaghetti sauce recipe that you asked me for ages ago.  I assume you still want it.  I got it from MY mom when I left home, and always made it the same way, and then when she tasted it one time after I'd made it for years, she didn't think it tasted like her sauce.  ?????  Anyway, try this:

brown a pound of hamburger with one or two large chopped onions (chop small)
          and add two 28-ounce cans of Hunt's tomato puree.  We like puree better than sauce and we like Hunt's.
   Add these spices, and note that the cinnamon is a secret offered by my mom's Italian friend.  A great improvement:
               1 t. salt
               1/2 t. chili powder (surprise)
               1/2 of a large bay leaf, or 1 skinny one
               1/4 t. basil
               1/4 t. oregano
               1/8 t. garlic powder
               cinnamon--without sugar, although the sugar could be tried--I guess I use 1/4 t. of cinnamon or less

Lots of times I use double the amount of basil, oregano, or garlic--depending on who's eating.  I let this sauce simmer an hour or so on very low heat if I have time to do that.  It tastes a lot better then.  But it's very good right after it's thrown together, too.  Oh!  If you want mushrooms put them with the onions when you're browning the onions in the ground beef.  Fresh mushrooms are always better than canned, but I've used canned ones before.  I've usually sliced the 'shrooms or used small button ones.  And I forgot to say you can drain the fat off the hamburger.  I forgot to say it because I don't usually do it any more.  I use 93% lean beef and there's hardly any fat and the fat is where the flavor is anyway.
                        One more tip--For the past several years we've liked our spaghetti to be angel hair.  Even the "thin" spaghetti doesn't please us as much as angel hair.  Your boys might like to think about eating angel hair.  And if you're really in a gourmet mood, I love this--cut a spaghetti squash in half (with a machete--that's about what it takes) and bake it 45 minutes face-down on a greased cookie sheet at 325 degrees; then scoop out the inside and it's very much like spaghetti with a nice delicate flavor besides.  And it's lower in carbs than pasta, if you care about that.  Dad and Maddie don't go for this as much as I do, so I don't serve it that way very often.

Bono appetito!  Amore---Tu Mama"