From Mama's Kitchen: The Story and Recipe—Celebrating My Mama's Spaghetti

Hello, dear readers! (and my sister, Becki),

Today, I want to share a special entry dedicated to my mama's spaghetti, a dish that was loved by many in our family, even though it wasn't my personal favorite due to my aversion to tomatoes. This story is meant to highlight the uniqueness of my mama's cooking and to clarify that her spaghetti was truly cherished by those who enjoyed it.

A few days ago, I wrote about my humorous journey with spaghetti and how it was never really my thing. If it seemed like I was making fun of my mama's cooking, I want to set the record straight, that was not my intent. The story was not about her cooking, but rather my general dislike for the dish, no matter who cooks it. While I may have a love-hate relationship with spaghetti, I have great respect for my mama's culinary skills. She excelled in Home Economics during her junior high and high school years, and many of her recipes were based on what she learned during the 1950s and 1960s. Her spaghetti sauce was homemade, and though ketchup was added sometimes, it was never the main ingredient. This addition of ketchup was likely due to the occasional absence of tomato paste, adding a bit more acidity and texture to the final product.

To be fair, my dislike for spaghetti somewhat stems from my dislike of tomatoes, bell peppers, and onions—all of which my mama loved and used generously in her cooking. Despite my distaste for these ingredients, there were some dishes my mama cooked that I absolutely loved, like her fried pork chops, tuna casserole, and even liver and onions, which I enjoyed despite my usual dislike of onions.

Back to the tomato thing—although I didn't like tomatoes, I did love lasagna and pizza, both of which my mama and my sister were amazing at making. My sister, Becki Manning Dannelly, especially loved our mama's spaghetti. This post is dedicated to her.

Pheroldine “Dee” Manning Lyons' Spaghetti Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of ground beef (the ratio doesn’t matter because we got whatever was on sale or cheapest)

• 1 cup chopped onion

• 1 cup of bell peppers, diced

• 2 cloves garlic, minced (she usually just used minced garlic from a jar or garlic powder)

• 1 14-ounce can of whole tomatoes, drained and cut up

• 1 14-ounce can stewed tomatoes, cut up, reserve the liquid to add to sauce

• 1 6-ounce can tomato paste

• 1/4 cup parsley (I don’t think she ever had any on hand and since you don’t taste it, it’s not important)

• 1 tablespoon brown sugar (dark or light, she used whatever was on hand)

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano, crushed

• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed

• 1 bay leaf

Instructions:

1. In a saucepan, combine onion, bell pepper, meat, and garlic; cook until meat is browned and onion is tender.

2. Skim off excess grease; add the rest of the ingredients along with 2 cups of water.

3. Simmer, uncovered, until sauce is thick, which usually takes a few hours. Your house will have a distinct tomato-ish smell; stir occasionally.

4. Remove bay leaf.

Serve over hot spaghetti pasta, or like my mama would do, just dump the hot spaghetti into the pot as a one pot wonder and stir it all together then serve on a plate…with a squirt of ketchup on top or grated parmesan cheese if we had it (and if the container wasn’t empty from my sister and I randomly eating handfuls of it).

Don't forget the garlic bread! Mama would use whatever bread we had on hand for garlic bread—hot dog buns, hamburger buns, sandwich bread, and if we were lucky, she made some from her delicious homemade sourdough bread.

This sauce recipe was sort of the same she used for her lasagna but without the bell pepper, which we didn’t get often because it involved a bit more work. But when we did, it was basically party night for our family. Especially since she doubled the ingredients to ensure she had enough meat sauce to fill her 9x13 baking pan that she used for everything from cake to casseroles. I’ll share her actual recipe for lasagna in the future, but for now, enjoy my mama’s spaghetti and feel free to make your own tweaks.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I'd love to hear your thoughts and memories about your own family recipes in the comments below. If you enjoyed this story and recipe, feel free to share it with your friends. Your support, whether through comments or contributions, means the world to me and helps keep this blog going!

Happy cooking!