Great news re: pasta sauce!

I concoct my own, but canned sauce is one of the ingredients.

I buy whatever's on sale. Which one did you find that's so good, slappy?

It's not amazing, but it's not bad for being in a jar, and I've gone through a few jars without getting sick of it yet. Paul Newman's Italian Sausage and peppers.

I've had his Sockarooni sauce, but not the Sausage and Peppers. I'll give it a try, thanks.

I like...shoot, I can't think of the brand...oh yeah, Slappys Special Spaghetti Sauce!

That's what the kids are calling it these days.

..

It seems to change on a regular basis...the requirements also vary but usually it needs to have onion and garlic. Some brands are so awful I need to tend to them by adding ingredients of my own others work quite well all by their lonesome and in fact I must restrain myself from drinking them straight from the jar.

I usually don't like pasta sauce in a jar, but Trader Joe's
has this creamy Prociutto sauce that's to die for.
I also use it with chicken dishes and potatoes. Great sauce!!

I can't think of the name off the top of my head, but it's got crushed artichokes in it. really great.

as a 2nd choice, barilla

When I was younger I always made my own sauce. Then I met some Italians who told me THEY used bottled sauce. Sheesh. So, I started checking around. I found that Prego is not so bad IF you plan on adding some meat in olive with extra garlic, and then simmering it for a while with roasted peppers, sauteed mushrooms and balsamic onions, then serve it forth with pesto sauce & lots of grated parmesano reggiano. You can hardly tell it is bottled sauce.

My latest thrill is not a sauce but Barilla Plus multi-grain pasta.

yeah, when I was a kid, the jarred sauces were horrible. They're a lot better now. Anyway, who's got the time?

oh piffka, barilla is the only brand of pasta I'll buy, my favorite are the butterflys. Slappy, you've got to try it.

I tried the multi-grained though, and didn't care for it. Just my preference tho, I've had wheat pasta before, just too chewy.

I'm a penne pasta fan, m'self.

Barilla pasta is better? I usually just buy store brand ziti, never noticed much of a difference. But never paid much attention to it, either.

Ok I admit I'm a hausfrau. I start by growing the tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, parsley, basil and oregano. I then make the sauce, some we eat fresh, some is canned and some is frozen. I find the jar sauce too salty.

That said: I recently had a 75 cent coupon for Barilla Restaurant Creations and they had double coupon week AND the sauce was on sale, so I got one for about 50 cents. It was really good! THis is the sauce that comes in two jars and you mix them together. I had the one with cheese addition, there is also a pesto version. We had it on top of my homemade ravioli (I didn't grow the wheat). I would be willing to pay full price for it in the future. In general I like Newmann products, next time I have a coupon I'll try the sauce.

I can't remembeer the last time I had tomato sauce. I buy canned, peeled tomatoes packed with various things (basil, onion, garlic, herbs, roasted, etc) from Muir Glen Organic. I will often add sauteed garlic in with a half a can of maters, pop it in the microwave for a minute just to warm the whole thing up and then toss with pasta. Or just toss warm pasta with chopped grape tomatoes and feta.... and basil.... mmmm....

I have always made my own pasta sauces, I find that the canned products just don't taste right unless you add half your pantry to them... if you're going to do that anyway you may as well just make it yourself I reckon!


I work for a speciality food company, in product development, and at the moment I am working on ready-to-eat pasta sauces, emphasis on tasting home made and fresh...mmm
My fave so far is Wild Mushroom and Tarragon, very nice

:wink:

Hmmm, haven't seen the Restaurant creations, might be regional.

Barilla also makes this fabulous Dinner for Two...it's in the freezer section. It tastes like restaurant quality.

So far I've just tried the sausage and peppers with penne pasta, and shrimp scampi with angel hair. I've got chicken and asparagus sitting in my freezer. It's so easy, you do nothing to it, just heat in a covered pan for 10 minutes, done.

The only thing is, it's really like dinner for 1 man with a large appetite and not quite enough left for a woman.
I just cooked up a little extra pasta separately, and added cooked chicken to the scampi and boca burgers (it's what I had on hand) to the sausage and peppers.

yes slappy, if you pay attention when you're cooking the pasta, you'll notice it even has a great aroma while cooking, and does taste better. I think you'd like those dinners for two also.

Surprisingly, the Hunts canned stuff that is really cheap is also pretty good. Like $1 for a large can, it can easily be kicked up.