Spaghetti

I'll start with a recipe that I made last week for my mom's birthday.

My mom called me about a week before her birthday and told me instead of going out for dinner, she wanted me to cook. OK, no problem... except she wanted me to cook spaghetti. The problem? My spaghetti recipe was a work in progress. I had three spaghetti recipes that I liked, but none that I loved, and no time to make a practice meal for my husband and daughter due to a busy week of Christmas shopping and being sick. So, the morning of my mom's birthday arrives and I still have no idea how I'm going to make the spaghetti. I decided to take the best parts of each of the three recipes and combine them and... hope that it tasted good. I was serving 7 people and had no idea if the food I was cooking them was even going to taste good! No pressure. I got lucky though and the spaghetti was a hit! My family happily stuffed themselves with my experimental recipe :)

Spaghetti with Meat & Mushroom Sauce

Salt
1 lb dried spaghetti
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 - 3/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (to taste)
3/4 lb ground beef
1/3 cup red wine
1 (28 0z) can crushed tomatoes
1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 handful of basil leaves (can be fresh or dried, I made mine with dried)
1 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp butter
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring, until softened. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook for 1 min. Add the ground beef and cook until browned.
2. Add the wine and tomatoes and stir until combined. Season the sauce with salt, to taste. Stir in the basil and sugar and reduce heat to low, allow to simmer for at least 30 minutes. I put mine in my slow cooker and let it cook over low heat for about 3 hours.
3. While the sauce is simmering, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt the water and add pasta. Cook according to package directions. (If making in crock pot, don't make the pasta until you are almost ready to eat)
   
4. When the pasta is cooked, turn off the heat, drain the pasta, and return it to the pot. Add the butter to the spaghetti and toss to coat.
   
5. Serve the sauce over the pasta. Top plates with grated cheese, if desired.

I'm huge on changing things in recipes to fit your needs. For example, I have a daughter who is lactose intolerant, so I take a small portion of the pasta out for her before I add the butter and cheese. I also have some family members watching their sodium, so if I am cooking for them I use a sodium-free salt substitute instead of salt. Do the same thing for yourself, if a recipe looks good to you but you don't like something about it, either omit the ingredient or substitute something else in it's place, make it your own! That's what makes cooking so much fun for me!