Brownie Cookies

This is one of my favorite cookies - very soft, full of chocolate. I love them.

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup milk
12-15 large marshmallows

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla and mix well. Sift together dry ingredients and add to butter mixture. Stir in milk. Drop by tablespoons onto greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 9 minutes - do not overbake. While they are baking, slice marshmallows in half. When the 9 minutes is up, quickly pull the cookies out and place one half of the marshmallow on top of each cookie, placing the uncut side face up. Put in the oven for 2-3 more minutes to melt the marshmallow. Remove and quickly smash the marshmallow slightly with the back of a spoon. When cooled, frost with chocolate frosting. I don't have a recipe, but I usually use about 3/4 a cube of butter, slightly melted. Then I add about 1/4 cup of cocoa, 2 cups powdered sugar, and 1 Tablespoon of milk. Stir together good and then add more powdered sugar and milk until you reach the consistency you want. You want a very spreadable frosting - not too stiff or the marshmallow will smear everywhere.

Beef Stroganoff

I got this recipe from my trusty Better Homes and Gardens cookbook years ago. I've tweaked it some over the years, and it is one of my family's favorites. It really comes together fast--probably less than 30 minutes, start to finish. Plus, except for the fresh mushrooms, it uses basic ingredients that I always have on hand. (I stock up on petite sirloin steaks when they go on sale and keep a stash in my freezer.)

1 pound beef tenderloin steak or sirloin steak (I always use petite sirloin--they're cheap, and they work great)
2 heaping Tablespoons flour
12 ounces sour cream (I usually use fat free with great results)
2 heaping teaspoons instant beef bouillon granules
1-2 Tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 medium onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
Hot cooked egg noodles

Thinly slice steak across the grain into bite-size strips. (I usually rub the steak with seasoned meat tenderizer, salt and pepper.) Combine flour and sour cream. Stir in bouillon granules, 1/2 cup water, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Set aside. In a large skillet saute onions for 2-3 minutes. Add garlic and steak. Cook until steak is done. It is best to cook to medium or medium well--the steak will cook more later. Add sour cream mixture. Cook and stir over medium heat till bubbly. Cook and stir 1 minute more. Serve over hot egg noodles.

Sour Cream Banana Bars

I made these last night and they are almost gone. We did take a couple to the neighbor's house...but, it was mostly us. Well, me. If you like banana bread, you'll probably like these too.


Sour Cream Banana Bars:

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add sour cream and eggs and blend. Add vanilla to mashed bananas. Sift together dry ingredients and add to egg mixture, alternating with mashed bananas. Spread onto a greased jelly roll pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Cool, then frost.

Browned Butter Frosting:

1/2 cup butter, browned
2 cups powdered sugar
3 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Brown butter in sauce pan until light golden color. Stir in remaining ingredients. Stir and heat. Spread onto banana bars.

Gingerbread White Chocolate Blondies

I found this recipe last year before Savannah's baptism. I made lots of treats that day, but these were my favorite!

Recipe from http://www.melskitchencafe.com

2 ¾ cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda
1 ¼ teaspoons salt
1 ¼ teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1 ¼ cups (2 ½ sticks) butter, room temperature
1 ¼ cups packed light brown sugar
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk
1 ¼ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup unsulfured molasses
1 ¾ cups white chocolate chips
Nonstick cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Whisk together flour, soda, salt, and spices.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or with a hand mixer), beat butter and sugars on medium-high speed until creamy and pale, about 3 minutes. Add eggs and yolk one at a time, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add vanilla and molasses and mix on medium speed until combined.

Add flour mixture on low speed until combined. Stir in white chocolate.

Spread batter evenly into prepared 13x9 pan and bake until golden around edges and toothpick comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Let cool completely in pan; cut into 24 squares. Blondies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 1 week.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Caramel Frosting

I am eating one of these as I type this. This recipe came from a long ago roommate, Aubrey, and started as pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting, which is a delightful dessert. I have a little daughter, however, who is totally into the cupcake craze. She requested cupcakes, so cupcakes it was. And I like cream cheese frosting, but I sometimes don't want it so a while ago I tried these with caramel frosting and I really like that combination.

Pumpkin Cupcakes (or bars)

4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
2 cups pumpkin puree
2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. soda
2 tsp. cinnamon

Blend eggs, sugar, and oil. Stir in pumpkin. Sift together flour, salt, soda, and cinnamon. Add to egg mixture. Pour into greased or lined cupcake pan or greased jelly roll pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Caramel Frosting

1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
6 Tbsp. milk
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Melt butter. Stir in brown sugar and boil while stirring for 2 minutes. Remove and add milk. Return to heat and bring to full boil. Set aside to cool for 20 minutes.

Spudnuts

The other night, I made 112 donuts. No, that's not a typo. Every now and again I actually do have a productive day. But don't worry, I did not eat all 112 donuts myself. We had a little party with our neighbors. It was quite fun and the donuts were delicious. I've been making this recipe for a few years and it does cut down okay (I've quartered it). But, if you're going to all the effort of making donuts, why not have a party?


Spudnuts
(makes 100-120 donuts)

1 cup shortening
2 cups mashed potatoes (I use instant because sometimes mine are lumpy - shh!)
4 cups lukewarm milk
5 eggs, beaten
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp yeast dissolved in 1/2 cup warm water
1 1/2 tsp. salt
12 to 15 cups flour
1/2 tsp. lemon extract

Scald the milk with the shortening (at first it will seem like they aren't going to come together, but they will - just keep stirring). Let this cool for a bit (15-20 minutes). While it is cooling, dissolve yeast in water. To the milk mixture, add sugar, salt, and enough flour to make a thin batter, about the consistency of cake batter. Add the mashed potatoes, beaten eggs, dissolved yeast, and lemon extract. Add enough more flour to make a soft but workable dough (I usually use about 13 cups total). At this point, I divide the dough into two large bowls to let it rise - you would need a giant bowl to leave it in one. Let rise until doubled then punch down. Then let rise until doubled again. After the second rise, roll dough out to about 1/4" thick and cut out in donut shapes (either with a donut cutter or with two circle cutters - the smaller one should be quite small). You will probably want to roll the dough out in several batches - the entire thing is a little unwieldy. Place the cut donuts on cookie sheets or any large platter to allow to rise another time. After an hour (or so), drop donuts in hot oil (375 degrees), raised-side down. Turn once. Remove from heat and drain briefly on a cookie rack then dip in glaze (I do a ratio of about 1 cup powdered sugar to 2 Tbsp water - you can also add a little cocoa or maple flavoring) or just powdered sugar. I served these with cider and for one night, I was the most popular girl in the neighborhood!

Grandma Donna's Cheesecake

When I was a girl, my mom and grandma frequently made this dessert. I am pretty sure I haven't had it since I moved away from home. It had been a while. We usually ate this with store-bought cherry pie filling as the topping. Since my garden is bursting with strawberries, I made a simple strawberry syrup/glaze instead. I like baked cheesecake, but they are a little too rich for me. This dessert is lighter (relatively speaking) and I like that the crust is not the traditional graham cracker crust. It uses nuts and usually I am not a nut person (at all), but I really like this crust.



Crust:

1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup butter

Mix together and pat into a 9x15" pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Remove from oven and crumble crust and then pat into pan again. Let cool.

Filling:

8 oz. pkg cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
2 pkg. Dream Whip, prepared according to directions on package

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add prepared Dream Whip and powdered sugar and blend together well. Spread over crust.

Topping:

Use canned fruit toppings, pie fillings, or make your own. I made mine using approximately 2 cups strawberries, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1 tsp. cornstarch blended with 1 tsp. water. I brought the mixture to a boil and then reduced the heat and let it simmer until it became a little bit thicker.

Three Meat Stromboli

Like most of my recipes, this is a combination of a couple of different recipes I've used for stromboli in the past. I like the combination of spices in this version and the dough is quite simple. Don't let your dough rise or it will have hollow pockets and is a bit weird.

Bread Dough:

2 1/2 cups flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp oil
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp yeast dissolved completely in 1 cup warm water
1 egg

Dissolve yeast in water. Add remaining ingredients and knead either by hand or in stand mixer for a couple of minutes (3-5). Roll out dough on floured surface into a rectangle shape (about 12x18").

Stromboli Toppings:

1/4 pound pastrami
1/4 pound deli ham
1/4 pound pepperoni
1/4 pound provolone
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup Parmesan
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp dried parsley
1/4 tsp pepper


Arrange toppings over rolled-out dough (in no particular order). Roll up dough and tuck eggs under. Lightly beat egg. Smear egg over the top of the dough (or gently use a pastry brush - I like smearing myself). Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes (until dough sounds hollow). Let sit a few minutes before serving.

I have used this stromboli dough for lots of types of stromboli. This is my favorite, but I've also really like chicken-alfredo stromboli or just a simple pepperoni and mozzarella combination.

Frosted Banana Cookies

I got this recipe from my little sis, Karlee. She got it from her roommate's mom when she was in college. I really like it and sometimes make extra frosting because the frosting is sooooo good.

3/4 cups softened butter
3/4 cups brown sugar
1 egg
2 mashed bananas
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp soda

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and blend well. In alternating additions, add dry ingredients (sifted together) and bananas. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

Frosting:

1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
6 Tbsp. brown sugar
1/4 cup butter

Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add powdered sugar to desired consistency and a dash of vanilla. Stir in the powdered sugar a little at a time to make it less lumpy. I say less lumpy because I almost never get it totally lump-free. It still tastes delicious, though.

S'Mores Cookies

Last fall, I spent a few weeks in North Dakota administering reading tests to kids on the reservations there. North Dakota was a pleasant surprise for me - not at all how I had pictured it. It was beautiful - lots of rolling hills, wide open skies, little towns with old churches in the center, and lots of beautiful farmland. I loved the acres and acres of sunflower fields (who wouldn't?) and the wheat fields broken up every couple of hundred feet by tall rows of trees planted as a windbreak by the pioneer settlers. Loved it. I hope I get to go back someday. I'm pretty sure I could live there quite happily.

At one of the schools we visited, the reading coach had made some S'Mores Cookies and shared them with us. They were sooooo good. Her family owns a large organic flax farm and she had put flax in them, so when I made my own version, I included it as an ingredient. I tried a few recipes for these cookies that I found online, but they didn't work very good - I think maybe because of the altitude where I live. I got a little frustrated last fall and gave up, but I was thinking about them this week and gave it another try. So this is what I came up with and it worked really good this time:


S'Mores Cookies

1 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs, coarsely chopped (you want big chunks in there)
1/2 cup milled flax
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups chocolate chips
about 1 cup miniature marshmallows
1 large Hershey bar, chopped in pieces

Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla and mix together. Sift flour, graham cracker crumbs, flax, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl and slowly add to creamed mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop by spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for about 7-8 minutes. Remove from oven and quickly place 3 -4 pieces of chocolate bar and 3-4 marshmallows into each cookie. Return to the oven and cook another 3-4 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Crock Pot Pork and Potato Stew

This is one of my favorite soups. The pork is so tender, it's unbelievable. Plus, it's a crock pot recipe, and is best if you start it early in the day. That's great, because my day's usually deteriorate into craziness as dinnertime nears. I got this recipe from a friend of mine, at our monthly "cooking club."

1 T. oil
1 lb. pork tenderloin, cut into cubes ( I usually use 2 pork tenderloins--I'm serious, the pork is really good! Plus, my kids tend to pick out mainly the meat.)
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup sliced onions
4 medium potatoes, cubed
3 T. chicken bouillon
4 1/2 cups water
1 T. cider vinegar
3 T flour
2 cups thinly sliced cabbage

Season cubed meat with salt, pepper and garlic salt. Sear meat in hot skillet with oil. Make sure to only brown the meat, do not cook all the way. Add meat to crock pot, then dump in the rest of the ingredients. Cook on low 8 hour, or high 4 hours.

Aebleskiver

Don't worry if you can't pronounce the name -- my kids call them "evil schemers." Whatever works. These are Danish pancakes that are traditionally served on Christmas morning. I have a lot of Danish ancestors, but never tried these until I visited one of my Ricks College roommates at her parent's house. Her mom always made them on Christmas morning, and apparently on other special occasions like when roommates come to visit! They were delicious, so when I got married, I found myself an Aebleskiver pan. You will need one for this recipe, but it's worth the $15 because they are so good. The pans are cast iron and usually have small cups for 7 aebleskiver to cook at a time.

I'm not much of a breakfast casserole person, so this is our special Christmas morning breakfast. We also have it on General Conference Sundays.

Danish Aebleskiver

2 eggs, divided
1 Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup buttermilk (or stir 1 tsp lemon juice or vinegar into a cup of regular milk and allow it to sit for a few minutes)
4 Tbsp butter

Beat egg yolks until light and fluffy; add the sugar and salt. Sift the flour with baking powder and baking soda, add to egg mixture alternately with the buttermilk. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff. Gently fold into batter. Heat the Aebleskiver pan over low-medium heat. You don't want it too hot. Place a small pat of butter into each of the Aebleskiver cups and heat until butter is foamy. Drop about a tablespoon of batter into each cup - fill them about 2/3 full. Cook for a few minutes until brown on the bottom and then use a fork to turn and allow the other side to cook.

Remove from pan and serve with a variety of good stuff - my favorite combination is butter and cinnamon-sugar. Floyd likes strawberry jam and powdered sugar or maple syrup poured over the top. However we eat them, we never have any left over. In fact, I've recently started doubling the batch because my kiddo's gobble up so many.

Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies

I made these cookies from the Pioneer Woman last year, but didn't actually like them too much. The cookie itself was just to dry and tasteless, so this year, I tried them again by modifying a different recipe for chocolate cookies to make them a little firmer so they would dip well. The recipe worked wonderfully and I think this will be my new favorite Christmas cookie.


1/2 cup butter or shortening (the original recipe called for shortening, but I prefer butter)
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
5-6 Tbsp cocoa
4 cups flour (I used just short of 4 cups, they seemed to be getting a little dry)
1 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 pkg. white almond bark or white chocolate chips
Crushed peppermint candy

Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and beat well. Sift dry ingredients together and add to sugar mixture. Roll into small balls and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Immediately flatten cookies when they are removed from the oven.

When cookies are cooled, melt white chocolate chips or white almond bark. Dip half the cookie in the melted chocolate and then dip in crushed candy canes or peppermint lozenges. Set on waxed paper to cool.

Gumdrop Cookies

This is an old family recipe. It's been around at least since my great-grandma, Grandma Daines. Although you can make it anytime of the year with regular gumdrops, I always think of it as a Christmas cookie with red and green gumdrops because that is what I remember my Grandma Donna making when I was a little girl. I think I have eaten about 1.5 dozen of these since I made them yesterday. I really like them.



Gumdrop Cookies

1 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs
1-2 cups gumdrops
2 cups flour
2 cups oatmeal
1 cup coconut
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Cream shortening and then add sugars and vanilla. Beat well. Add eggs one at a time. Add the gumdrops and set aside. Combine the remaining dry ingredients together and add to the gumdrop mixture. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees.

Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake Bars

These tasty little treats combine two of my favorites--cheesecake and pumpkin. Yum! I got the recipe from a Kraft Food and Family magazine.

Ingredients:

25 Ginger Snaps, finely crushed (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
1/4 cup butter, melted
4 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar, divided
1 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
dash ground cloves

Heat oven to 325 degrees.

Mix crumbs, nuts, and butter; press onto bottom of 13x9 inch pan.

Beat cream cheese, 3/4 cup sugar, and vanilla with mixer until blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each just until blended. Remove 1 1/2 cups batter. Stir remaining sugar, pumpkin, and spices into remaining batter.

Spoon half the pumpkin batter into crust; top with spoonfuls of half the plain batter. Repeat layers; swirl with knife.

Bake 45 min. or until center is almost set. Cool completely. Refrigerate at least 4 hours before serving.

Apple Butter

So, so easy. And it makes your house smell so, so good.



5 pounds apples (about 10 large)
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Peel, core, and dice apples. Place in a crock pot and add sugar and cinnamon. Stir a bit. Cover and cook over low heat for 10 hours. Remove lid and cook another 2 hours. At this point, you could be finished and put the apple butter in jars. I like it to have a smooth consistency, so I put it in the blender first and then put it in jars. Allow it to cool and then refrigerate or freeze.

This is great on toast. You can use it in the fruit salsa recipe I posted a few weeks ago. My favorite way to use it is as a dipping sauce for ham.

Spicy Glazed Pork Tenderloin

Pork tenderloin is one of our favorite cuts of meat--all three kids like it, a rare feat at our house. And this is one of my best recipes. I got it from Cooks Country a few years ago, and it is one of my very favorite go-to recipes for pork tenderloin. (Sorry my camera is MIA right now, so you'll have to do without one of my fabulous (haha) photos!)

1/2 cup pineapple juice
1/4 juice from about 2 limes
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon molasses
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 jalapeno chile, seeded and minced
2 pork tenderloins (12-16 ounces each, trimmed of silver skin--you know, that fatty membrane on the side!)
2 teaspoon vegetable oil

1. Stir pineapple juice, lime juice, brown sugar, molasses, cumin, cayenne, and jalapeno in small bowl. Pat tenderloins dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper.
2. Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Cook tenderloins, turning until browned on all sides, 5-8 minutes total. Reduce heat to medium, add lime juice mixture, and cook, rolling tenderloins to coat, until mixture is thick and syrupy and internal temperature of tenderloins register 140 degrees on instant-read thermometer, 9-11 minutes. (The meat will still be a little pink if you stop right at 140 degrees--that's how you want it. Trust me. It's so much more tender, and cooks illustrated even included a nice little box detailing how safe it is to eat pork at this temperature!)
3. Transfer tenderloins to cutting board, ten loosely with foil, and let rest until internal temperature rises to 150 degrees, about 10 minutes. Cut tenderloins crosswise into 1/2 inch thick slices, arrange on platter, and pour glaze in pan over slices. Serve.

Apple Spice Bundt Cake with Caramel Topping

This is similar in taste to the apple cake Kelli posted a few months ago, but it is a little denser and with a different topping. Bundt cakes make beautiful cakes to serve at parties or showers, so if you are hosting one this fall, give it a try.

Apple Spice Bundt Cake

3 cups flour
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
3 cups apples; peeled, cored, and diced (about 3-4 apples)
1 tsp vanilla

Sift together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Combine oil (just close your eyes when you pour it in), sugar, and eggs and mix until lemon yellow. Gradually pour in dry ingredients while continuing to mix. Add apples and vanilla and mix until just incorporated. Pour batter into prepared bundt pan (I always use shortening and flour when I'm going to remove the cake from the pan). Bake at 350 degrees for about 75 minutes. Remove from oven and allow cake to cool slightly before inverting cake onto a plate or cake platter. Serve with drizzles caramel sauce.

Caramel Sauce

2 cups brown sugar
1 cup butter
1/2 cup evaporated milk
2 tsp vanilla
Pinch of salt

Combine ingredients in a small saucepan over low-medium heat. Cook until brown sugar is dissolved and mixture starts to thicken.

Corn Bread

When I make chili, I almost always make corn bread and honey butter to go with it. A few weeks ago, it felt like fall for the first time so chili and corn bread were on the menu that night. Today is even colder and rainier (here at my house, anyway). I love this recipe for corn bread - it comes from "The Essential Mormon Cookbook." For the chili, I used this recipe. For the chili, I don't care for pinto beans, so I always substitute Great Northern.



Corn Bread

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cups yellow cornmeal
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups milk

Cream butter, sugar, and eggs. In a separate bowl, blend cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt. Combine creamed mixture, dry mixture, and milk. Blend. Bake in a greased 8X8" pan at 375 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.

And just in case you've never made it before, here is how to make honey butter.

Honey Butter

1 cube room temperature butter (try not to just soften it in the microwave - it works much better if the entire cube is a consistent temperature)
3-4 Tbsp honey

Put butter and honey together in a bowl. Beat with electric mixer until fluffy and well-combined. You can add a little more or less honey, it just depends on how sweet you want it.

Fresh Tomato Sauce

Do you have fresh tomatoes lying around? Probably you do. If not, your neighbor probably does. Go ask for some. This sauce is really fast, easy, and pretty healthy. Remember - olive oil is good for you!



2-3 pounds tomatoes, peeled and chopped (about 6-9 medium tomatoes)
1 medium green onion, minced (or about 1/4 cup yellow/white onion)
3 Tbsp fresh parsley or 1 Tbsp dried parsley
2 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp fresh basil or 1/2 tsp dried basil
1/8 pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
2 medium garlic cloves, sliced

About 3 hours or so before serving, mix first eight ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. After these have cooked for about an hour, heat olive oil in a small saucepan. Add garlic and cook until golden. Remove from heat and remove garlic. Pour hot oil over tomato mixture and mix well (sometimes I keep this over heat for 10-15 minutes). Cover, remove from heat, and let stand 2 or more before serving. You can add a little water if it seems too thick.

Just prior to serving, prepare some type of noodles and re-heat sauce. Serve. This sauce is hard to mess up - I've used canned tomatoes mixed with fresh when I didn't have enough, different spices, chives instead of onions, etc. It's always turned out good.