A blast from the past

Lily is still doing a great job with her New Year's "Revolution" to try new things. Now that she's discovered that pasta doesn't have to be plain pasta with butter and Parmesan, she'll try any sort of pasta. I was in a hurry this week and decided to throw together an old recipe for spaghetti that my mom used to make. I think that somewhere in the dim and distant past she found the recipe on a box of ::shudder:: Velveeta. Now I *hate* Velveeta with a passion. I never use it and rarely have it on my shelf but after a nostalgic visit to my mom's mac and cheese a couple of weeks ago I had some hanging around. For some reason, while I don't like Velveeta in much else, I love it in this dish. Childhood memories, I guess. Grandma's Spaghetti was a hit with Lily and her brother, who both asked for seconds. In fact I had a hard time getting enough spaghetti to take the picture. I ended up using picky Kate's spaghetti because she's not been convinced that sauce on pasta is a *good* thing. ;-)

The sauce comes together quickly while the pasta cooks. Since my family is used to spicier fare, I jazzed up the recipe a bit by using zesty Italian sausage instead of ground beef and real garlic instead of garlic powder.


Grandma's Spaghetti

1 medium onion, chopped
1 pound spicy Italian Sausage (You can also use ground beef.)
1 clove garlic, minced (or you can use garlic powder)
2 small cans tomato sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 cup Velveeta cheese
Spaghetti

Cook spaghetti as directed on package.

Brown ground beef in a large skillet. Add onions and garlic. Drain fat. Add remaining ingredients except cheese. Simmer. Add cheese and stir until melted. Add spaghetti. Serve.