Nana Ackerman's "Bear Meat" Spaghetti Sauce

After getting back "home" to Bloomington, one of our first orders of business was to whip up a batch of our favorite spaghetti sauce. We'd been craving it all summer, but it requires a large pot to make, and we'd left that behind. I've never been a huge spaghetti fan, but I do feel that this stuff is absolutely delicious and look forward to eating it all day when I know it is on the menu for that evening. I usually even sneak cold spoonfuls if it is in the fridge.

Another thing I like about this recipe is that it makes a boat load. We get somewhere around 5 meals out of it! We freeze over 75% of each batch we make, and it is delightfully easy to pull it back out and heat up for those evenings where we're short on time.

Ingredients:
2 lbs ground beef
1 large red onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 heaping cup sugar
1 14.5oz can diced tomatoes
2 15oz cans tomato sauce (we usually go for the herb & garlic kinds)
2 12oz cans tomato paste
2 15oz cans water **Please note: I originally forgot to include this!**

To Prepare:
Brown the ground beef, drain, and then add in chopped veggies and let them saute a little bit together. Add the rest of the ingredients and let simmer for awhile. Add salt and pepper to taste. Sometimes we add more sugar, or garlic salt, depending on our mood. Refrigerate overnight. The next day, I usually set some aside for that evening's dinner, and then divide up the rest in meal-sized portions and freeze in individual containers.

To Eat:
Heat in a saucepan, and serve over your favorite pasta.

So where does the name come from?
When Josh's dad was a little boy he refused to eat dinner for his grandma, who took care of him from time to time. So to make things a little more enticing, this clever grandma told him that her special spaghetti sauce had bear meat it. The name has stuck for over 50 years!