Noodles with Hearty Tomato Sauce

Pasta with sauce is kind of my weakness. Well, one of them anyway. This one turned out pretty darn good, although next time I'm going to add more salt and pepper. It's a sauce almost from scratch, so you can feel good about it!

Ingredients:

1/4 pund extra-lean ground beef

1 medium tomato

1 sundried tomato, chopped

about 1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 tablespoon chopped onion

5 white mushrooms, chopped into small pieces

1/4 cup Arrabiata sauce or other tomato-based pasta sauce

2 teaspoons oil from the sundried tomatoes

1/2 cup whole-wheat egg noodles or other pasta

salt and pepper to taste

you'll also need:

medium non-stick skillet or wok

small metal or heatproof bowl

pot of salted water

pasta strainer

paper towels

heat-proof stirring spoon

1. peel the tomato: put it in the heatproof bowl and pour boiling water over it. Let it sit for a minute, then pour out the water. Pour in cold water until the water stays cold. Then chop the tomato.

2. in the wok or skillet, cook the hambuger meat until it's done, then drain it on paper towels.

3. wipe out the wok and add the oil from the sundried tomatoes. Cook the onion until it starts to soften, then add the tomato paste. Stir it until it starts to break up a bit.

4. add the chopped tomato and the Arrabiata sauce to the pan and mix together. Add in the mushrooms, and salt and pepper to taste. Once the pasta is in the water (see next step) add in the hamburger so it has time to heat through.

5. meanwhile, bring the water in the pot to a boil and add the noodles. Cook until al dente, then strain thouroughly.

6. put the cooked noodles into the sauce and stir to coat. Serve in a bowl and feel good about your 'homemade' sauce.

I made this recipe up, but I got the idea for making a sauce from three kinds of tomatoes from the show Everyday Food.