Old Fashioned Family Fun

My brother, mom, and I have started a new family tradition. I don’t think it is ever too late to start new traditions. This one is a real winner….we take one Sunday every quarter to have an all day cooking extravaganza. Trust me, this isn’t for armatures.  We’ve made everything from homemade tamales (including the sauce from scratch) to homemade fresh pasta. Some new adventurous spaghetti sauce is always on the agenda.

In honor of our new family’s tradition, I’d like to share a couple family favorites. Since my family is Italian, naturally we like our meat sauce, so we are sure to make a couple huge pots on our quarterly cooking days. This is a great way to stock up our freezers with dinner-sized portions of sauce to pull out for a quick, deliciously homemade weeknight dinner. Check out our great meat sauce base at Making it Spicy.

Another family favorite is a powerfully tasty chili recipe. I actually got this when I was working at John Henry’s café my senior year at Oregon State. The café no longer exists…so I feel like I have to keep the dream alive, and share this amazing, simple, but flavorful chili recipe. This is another great item to stock your freezer with…as the chili just gets better and better as the ingredients have time to marinate together. Get it at Making it Spicy.

Enjoy these family favorites...and let me know if you try them out...I'd love to hear what you think!

-Erica Stillar