Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

I am so proud of myself, I just have to share. For those of you that know me, you know I cook meals so my family can eat. In the past I haven't done it because I enjoy it. I have to admit I am starting to enjoy it more and more. Making a meal plan has helped me tremendously. Lately, I have also been going through a stage of wanting to feed my family more healthy food.

This week I was going to make spaghetti for the kids and Steve as I was going out with friends. I looked into the cupboard and realized I didn't have any spaghetti sauce. I looked around a bit and saw that I did have some tomato sauce and stewed tomatoes. I have been thinking recently about making my own spaghetti sauce, after all, do we really know what is in a jar of spaghetti sauce? I figured this was as good of opportunity as ever. I looked up a few recipes for homemade spaghetti sauce on-line and found a good base line for the sauce. From there, I tweaked it a bit to what sounded good to me. What I ended up with was the BEST spaghetti sauce I have ever had, even in a restaurant. Everyone loved it. I made a lot of it and they ate almost all of it. Thankfully, I remembered to write it down as I was making it. I thought I would share it if anyone else is ever in a bind for spaghetti sauce. Or maybe I am the only person that used spaghetti sauce from a jar.

1 1/2 pounds browned ground beef
1 small onion cooked with the beef
1 tsp. garlic powder (I would have used fresh if I had it)
2 8oz cans of tomato sauce
2 cans stewed tomatoes (pureed in food processor, I don't like tomato chunks)
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. dried basil
3/4 tsp. dried oregano
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt (although next time, I won't use any as the tomatoes made it plenty salty)
1/2 tsp. pepper

I just put it all in a large pot, brought it to a boil, then turned the heat down to low and simmered for about two hours. It was simply delicious. Try it and tell me what you think. I am just proud as this is my first made up recipe.