What's cookin at the Westover's #2

While sitting in church yesterday snoozing over the Dry Council speakers I had the sudden craving for homemade spaghetti sauce. So I went online to my favorite cooking website cooksillustrated.com and found a Beef Balongnes Sauce with Pancetta and Red Wine. Oh good heavens, it sounded so freaking amazing I had to have it.

So I ran over to Trader Joe's to buy an onion, some celery, carrots and Pancetta and was pleasantly surprised to find a 'stew and sauce starter kit', meaning chopped onions, carrots and celery all in one convenient container. It was a sign, and I never turn away from a sign, especially not when food is involved, so I knew I was moving in the right direction. I placed my convenient container into my cute little cart and wandered over to the meat section where I found once again a convenient little container of pre-chopped Pancetta. Could this get any easier!?! The last item on my list was a bottle of wine, so I wandered over to the Zinfandel section and grabbed a bottle that stated it had hints of cherry.

At home I spent the next 3 hours in the kitchen making the sauce, which turned out AMAZING! (I substituted Turkey for the Beef to keep the fat content down.) We had our friends Morgan and Jo over to share our lovely meal with, complete with angle hair pasta, garlic bread and a tossed salad, and spent the evening chatting away and eating delicious food. It was the perfect balance of lazy and productive wrapped into one. :)

The wine.

The sauce.