"But actually it isn't all that difficult to know the approved ones as there are so few of them for spaghetti sauce since it is a low acid product. NCHFP/USDA publications, which includes the ones in So Easy to Preserve, and those in the Ball/Bernardin books. That's it. There aren't any in Small Batch Preserving." Well, it may not call itself spaghetti sauce, but there is "Chunky Basil Pasta Sauce" with fresh herbs and veges in Small Batch Preserving, and also "Roasted Vegetable Pasta Sauce" with both veges and fresh herbs in Small Batch Preserving, and also "Seasoned Tomato Sauce" with veges and fresh herbs that Small Batch Preserving suggests using in "pasta sauces, soups, stews, pizza, or casseroles." So, although the OP did leave the door open to reasonable questions about recipe safety, it is also good to take care in making broad statements about recipes which include such phrases as "there are no recipes which. . .", or "all approved recipes for (pasta sauce, salsa, whatever) MUST be. . ." since there may well be a safe recipe which allows such processing. For example: you CAN use fresh herbs in the approved NCHFP spaghetti sauce recipe, as this email from Elizabeth Andress states: Thank you for visiting the National Center for Home Food Preservation. > question -> Spaghetti Sauce without Meat: > 1. Can I eliminate the celery/peppers completely? > 2. Can I use fresh herbs or only dried? > 3. Can I add basil (fresh or dried)? > 4. Can I eliminate the sugar? For our particular procedures: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_03/spaghetti_sauce.html You can leave out the celery and peppers completely, leaving everything else the same. (The mushrooms are already optional, also.) If you use fresh herbs, make sure they are very clean. I can only recommend using the equivalent volume measures, though, and that may not give you the flavor you desire. Eg., instead of 2 TBSP dried oregano, use 2 TBSP minced fresh oregano. I do not have enough information to know the upper limit on how much fresh to add, so that's all I can suggest without testing. (which we cannot do). You can use basil as a substitute for one of the other herbs (eg, you may not want the parsley with basil). Or, if you are leaving out the celery and peppers completely, you could add 2 to 4 TBSP of basil. Yes, you can eliminate the sugar in this recipe. The chopped celery and/or peppers and the sugar add a little moisture/liquid in many recipes. In this particular sauce, however, it is cooked down to thickened consistency anyway, so the amount of liquid that would be added by these ingredients would not be important as it might be in other types of food products/mixtures. Best wishes, Elizabeth Andress -------------------------------------- Elizabeth L. Andress, Ph.D. Project Director, National Center for HFP Professor and Extension Food Safety Specialist Department of Foods and Nutrition The University of Georgia 208 Hoke Smith Annex Athens, GA 30602-4356 Phone: (706) 542-3773 FAX: (706) 542-1979 -----------------------------------------------

My mom doesn't really know what they like, and dad doesn't either. I've given jams to her sisters before, one of her BILs is diabetic so I always gave that aunt & uncle salsa. I've never given food (other than the Xmas stollen from their mom's recipe) to my dad's brothers, I know 1 of them doesn't like hot peppers at all. My dad only likes sweet pickles and relishes, DH doesn't like sweet, so I know it's not "one size fits all" even as far as that goes (and I wouldn't make pickles from storebought cukes anyway). Pie filling sounds good, I'd have to buy a lot of fruit and some Cleargel (or give instructions for thickening after opening, but for non-bakers that may be a turn-off). I guess they could always use it for ice cream topping or a cobbler. Pasta sauce is sounding better - you think pints are the right size for 2 people, I could make Ellie Topp's Chunky Tomato with Wine (skip the basil, maybe just put in a little dried herbs, after I had some basil go bitter in that recipe I don't want to use fresh in canning again)?

Ann, that is the ONLY way I'll eat pasta with a tomato sauce. I do it simply, I just toss hot whole wheat pasta (no white stuff, it's too much like eating paste in first grade!) with diced tomatoes, fresh basil and some parmesan. Sometimes I get a wild streak and add julienned fresh fennel and green onions or shallots or leeks, whatever I have. For straining tomatoes, I use one of these. It's called a Squeezo, my old one is all stainless steel, the newer ones are more plastic and are called "food mills". Villaware makes a nice one but they are far more expensive than that $2.99 sieve. Mine was the right price, my mother gave it to me because she doesn't use it any more so it was free! I liked my Foley food mill, but gave it to Doucanoe when I got the Squeezo, I didn't need both. That looks more like a sauce pan, with a crank handle. It has feet so it sits on the side of a bowl, you crank it and the seeds and peels stay in the bowl and the juice and pulp goes through the bottom of the strainer and into your bowl. I don't have a picture but if you search for "Foley food mill" you'll find a bunch of them. Annie

Zep516 Ha! Dinner was at about 6, and there was garlic bread - even some with cheese! My shortcut banana bread for dessert even. Ctycdm, I have been ditching my nonstick...but alas I still use them for cooking eggs. Cant think of anything else, except for some weight in this recipe! Falcon, I love soups. Make a ton of them, I'll have to check that one out. We grill in all weather...rain, cold, a few times even in snow. I slice the sausages in half to get more surface area for burning. I'm afraid they wouldnt hold together on my grill!