Homemade pasta sauce

It's been a while!

Here is an easy way to make your own pasta sauce. This is a base, so try your own variations on this and post them in the comments!

Ingredients:

• 8 tomatoes, chopped (or 4 cans crushed tomatoes)
• 3 cloves garlic, diced
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 cup fresh basil leaves (or 3 table spoons dried)
• Meat (optional)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 cups water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• Parmesan for garnish

Directions:

• Put onion, garlic, and basil into a food processor, run until almost liquid
• Sauté onion mix for 5 minutes in olive oil in large pan or sauce pan
• Add tomatoes, crush a bit if fresh, stir well
• Add salt, pepper, red pepper flakes
• Add 2 cups water
• Add sugar
• Add meat (optional)
• Boil until sauce reduces to your liking, slower and longer the better
• Serve, mailman, repeat!

This sauce is delicious as it is, and so any additions you make will only make it better. Be careful on the red pepper flakes, they are quite strong with the garlic. Otherwise, this is super easy and can be used for chicken, ground beef, meatballs, sausage, etc. Here's Natalie dominating some angel hair with this sauce :)

Happy cooking mailmanning!

BBQ Pork Tenderloin

Wow. This was delicious. And you will want more than you think. The four of us went through 2 whole tenderloins. It was ridiculous.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup soy sauce
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Cumin
• 2 pork tenderloins

Directions:

1. Mix together soy sauce, garlic, and brown sugar
2. Place tenderloins into a ziploc bag along with marinade ingredients for 45 minutes (we let it marinade for 1.5 hours).
3. Get grill to medium high heat
4. Place tenderloins on grill, directly over heat, cover grill
5. Turn meat every 5 minutes or so, until all sides have nice grill marks and the meat starts to firm up. Cut in the middle of the tenderloin to check for doneness. If you think the pork is on the edge of being done/raw, take pork off grill and let it sit uncut for 5-10 minutes. The pork will continue to cook without getting dried out
6. Slice, and mailman to finish

A four-way mailman sesh for the ages. Be jealous. Be very jealous.

 Happy cooking mailmanning!

Pear-Raspberry Glazed BBQ Pork Chops

No description required. This shit was delicious.

Ingredients (2 servings):

• 1'' pork chops (1 per person)
• 1-2 tablespoons jam (I used a homemade Pear Raspberry Jam) It was truly the jam.
• Note: Honey is a great substitute here. Use in a 1:1 ratio with the soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon Soy Sauce
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• Salt & Pepper

Instructions:

1. Mix soy sauce, jam, garlic, and some salt and pepper together
2. Place chop on grill, add glaze to one side, cook for 5-7 minutes
3. Flip, add glaze to second side, cook for 5-7 minutes or until chop is firm in all spots
• Note: Thinner chops will cook extremely quickly. Keep an eye on the grill, lest you burn these sumptuous treats
4. Serve, mailman, gorge, repeat as necessary!

Yum!

She is dreaming about eating these chops every day

Cyana loves chops because she gets to mailman too!

Happy cooking mailmanning!

BBQ Asparagus

The asparagus came in early this year, so Natalie and I have been cooking lots of it. This little masterpiece was modified from the oven to fit the ol' Weber and came out delicious.

Ingredients

• 1 lb Nice, thick asparagus
• Olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Pepper
• Parmesan Cheese

Directions:

• Light coals, allow to get nice and hot
• Make a foil tray and place asparagus (ends chopped off) into tray
• Liberally drizzle with olive oil (use lots of it!)
• Season with salt, pepper, and Parmesan cheese
• Place on grill, but not directly over heat, give some space
• Cover grill, cook for 10-15 minutes until thickest asparagus are tender
• Serve, gorge, repeat as necessary

We ate this so fast this was the only picture I was able to take of it :)

Happy cooking mailmanning!