Mama Hacks - How to Rid Your House of Reeking Spoiled Food Smell

Cook with garlic!

This is a recipe post that I took photos for a while back.  I never got around to posting it, tho.

Then Thursday night, in the grocery store while buying replacement milk and beer for the new fridge (essentials, yo) I got the hankering for spaghetti sauce.  I bought all the fixins and took them home, and noticed when I walked in the door that the spoiled food smell still hung in the air.

About an hour later, when my dad walked in for dinner, he said "whoa!".  I said "does it still smell that bad?"  He said, "no, I don't smell anything but GARLIC!".

Mission accomplished.

Yes, it's semi-homemade because I use jarred sauce.  But it's pretty no-fail and tastes much better than just the stuff in the jar by itself, and is fine for a week-night meal.

MommieV's Weeknight Spaghetti

Chop some onion.  However much you want.  I did almost half of a large onion and it was enough.  Put it in a pan and saute with just a touch of olive oil.  Press in some fresh garlic, or use the minced stuff in a jar.  However much you want.  If you're doing this to rid your house of stinky smell, use fresh and press at least three large cloves. 

Saute until the onions are translucent. Add about a pound of ground beef and saute until browned.

I had some help.

This step is optional: finely chop fresh mushrooms, and saute over medium heat until they release their water, then add to the browned ground beef pan.
 

I use my chopper to make sure they are very fine.  If they are as small as the ground beef crumbles, usually folks don't even notice they are there.

Pour a jar of spaghetti sauce over top, add spices, and simmer 30 minutes.  I usually use Classico Tomato and Basil, so I only add a little dried basil, and some dried oregano.  If you've opened your bottle of red wine, please feel free to add a splash or two, that adds some depth to the flavor.

Boil spaghetti.  Serve.

Adaptation:  MommieV's Company Spaghetti: add one pound italian sausage when browning the ground beef.  You may need one-and-a-half to two jars of sauce then, to make it proper consistency.  Also for company, I do homemade garlic bread and I buy the fancy shredded Parmesan and Reggiano cheese at the deli counter.

A certain someone loved this sauce when I took the photos back in March:

And she loved it last night too:

Don't forget to recycle the jar (I have no idea why I took that photo.)

What is Italian for YUM?