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It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it, right? My family just had the opportunity to test four delicious pasta sauces from Bove’s. Bove’s started three generations back in a family-run, Italian restaurant, in Vermont. They attribute their great success to high quality, all natural ingredients, cooking only in small, quality-controlled batches and [...]
It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it, right? My family just had the opportunity to test four delicious pasta sauces from Bove’s. Bove’s started three generations back in a family-run, Italian restaurant, in Vermont. They attribute their great success to high quality, all natural ingredients, cooking only in small, quality-controlled batches and staying true to their time-tested, family recipes. Their business has grown over the years to include producing frozen lasagnas, frozen meatballs and jarred pasta sauces, while still adhering to those original principles.
The four yummy Bove's pasta sauces we were fortunate enough to review.
You may not realize that April is National Garlic month, but in honor of this great celebration, we were offered the chance to review Bove’s Roasted Garlic Pasta Sauce; (which, incidently, is going to be featured on The Food Network’s “The Best Thing I Ever Ate”) . Never one to miss the chance for a celebration OR spaghetti, I happily accepted, and what a great surprise when the box arrived, to find four different flavors to test! Not only did we have Roasted Garlic Pasta Sauce, but we also received Basil Pasta Sauce, Vodka Pasta Sauce and Marinara Sauce. As it turns out, the Roasted Garlic and Basil Pasta Sauces ended up in a dead-heat tie for first place in our testing, with Vodka Pasta Sauce coming in second and the Marinara, third.
Our own personal pasta bar and happy faces of anticipation!
Instead of adding ground beef directly to the sauce, I just browned it up and left it to each person to add what they liked. We made a lovely salad, some garlic bread, served tons of freshly grated Parmesan to top the pasta and made lots and lots of noodles, then left everyone to taste and try the sauces, as they wished. Our grandbabies even got in on the act! They are spaghetti experts extraordinaire! Truly! They’re so serious about their pasta sauce, they’ve even been known to WEAR it. 
 Our grandson, happily displaying the remnants of his spaghetti dinner! |
 Our second granddaughter, not to be outdone, happily showing HER spaghetti face! |
Each sauce had rich tomatoey flavor and they were THICK, the way we like our sauce — clinging to every noodle. All are sugar-free, and I must confess that I added 2 Tablespoons of sugar to each jar, to cut the acid of the tomatoes a bit and appease my husband, who must always have a little sweet in his pasta sauce. Those of you on sugar restricted diets will love the all-natural approach to these sauces, though. I loved looking at the labels and finding an ingredient list of very familiar food products with names I could pronounce. Every ingredient on the jar was something I could pull from my own pantry or refrigerator! Without a doubt, we loved Bove’s pasta sauces, as was evidenced by the cleaned plates and happy smiles. What a yummy dinner!
Note that the only thing left on these plates is the salad. Those tummy's are full of spaghetti and Bove's pasta sauces!
If you would love to serve Bove’s for your own National Garlic month celebration, or just for a fabulous fun spaghetti dinner, stop by their online store and order your favorite varieties! Bove’s also has their own blog with tons of news and yummy meal ideas. They even have a recipe section with 10 delicious dishes for you to try.
Our family will be enjoying Bove’s pasta sauces, again! I’m sure that the Roasted Garlic and the Basil are in our immediate future. One lucky Busy-at-Home reader will have the same opportunity! Boves is generously sponsoring a giveaway of one jar of their delicious sauce for a Busy-at-Home reader.
Giveaway Rules:
Entrants must be 18 or older and a resident of the U.S. Mandatory entry must be completed for any additional entries to be counted. Deadline to enter is midnight (CST), Sunday, May 8, 2011. Winner will be selected in a random drawing using random.org.
Mandatory Entry:
Leave a comment below, telling me which of the six flavors of Bove’s pasta sauce you would most like to try, if you’re the winner. If you don’t remember all the varieties, you can find them listed in the Bove’s store.
Additional Optional Entries:
- Like Bove’s on Facebook and leave a comment below with your Facebook name, letting me know you did.
- Like Bove’s on Twitter and leave a comment below with your Twitter handle, letting me know you did.
- Follow Busy-at-Home on Twitter. Leave a comment letting me know you’ve done it.
- Like Busy-at-Home on Facebook. Leave a comment letting me know you’ve done it.
- Follow Busy-at-Home on Google Friends Connect. Use the “Join” button in the right-hand sidebar. Leave a comment letting me know you’ve done it.
- Subscribe to the Busy-at-Home Newsletter with this link (or in the right-hand sidebar). You will receive an email confirmation with a link that must be clicked to confirm your subscription. Once you click the email link to confirm your subscription, leave me a comment to let me know you’ve done it.
- TweetTweet this giveaway (1x daily) : http://bit.ly/eWKOnO Leave a comment below with a link to your tweet.
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I received four jars of Bove’s pasta sauce, in different varieties, in order to conduct this review. No monetary compensation was received and a positive review was not required. As with all Busy-at-Home reviews, the views and opinions expressed are wholly my own. Boves will ship a FREE jar directly to the giveaway winner.
Birthdays are one of the few times our kids get to choose the menu. Our youngest turned eight years old on the 24th; and we celebrated with family and a delicious meal on the 22nd. The birthday dinner requested was Spaghetti with Homemade Meatballs. I was completely out of ground turkey and so I decided [...]
Birthdays are one of the few times our kids get to choose the menu. Our youngest turned eight years old on the 24th; and we celebrated with family and a delicious meal on the 22nd. The birthday dinner requested was Spaghetti with Homemade Meatballs. I was completely out of ground turkey and so I decided to use up some of the hamburger I had on hand in the freezer. I checked the web for specific recipes and found several that had ingredients we like, but I didn’t have everything needed to make them. I found a couple that included ingredients we definitely don’t care for, so I looked for the ingredients that were “core essentials” in all of them and from there we built our own recipe. It was a smash hit and will be the “go-to” recipe for meatballs in the future!
This recipe made 132 meatballs. Flash freeze them on a cookie sheet and then put them in a zip-top freezer bag to use for quick meals in the future if you won’t be needing all of them at one sitting. – lol – We fed everyone at the birthday party, ate leftovers for lunch the next day and froze half for another time. You will be so happy to be able to pull these out of the freezer for a quick delicious meal! Yum!
Glenda’s Spicy Meatballs
Ingredients:
- 4¼ lbs 93% lean ground beef
- 3 eggs
- ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
- 1 cup milk
- 1 medium red onion, minced
- 5 cloves garlic, pressed or minced fine
- 2 cups Italian bread crumbs
- 1 Tbl red pepper flakes
- 2 Tbl Spike Seasoning
1/3 cup dried parsley- 1/3 cup dried basil
- 2 cups grated parmesan cheese
- 1 Tbl salt
- 1 Tbl black pepper
Mix the hamburger, Worcestershire sauce, milk and eggs.
Add the minced onions and garlic, bread crumbs, pepper flakes, Spike Seasoning, parsley, basil, grated Parmesan, salt and pepper. I would like to tell you I am very delicate and mix thi
s with a wooden spoon or fork, but it just isn’t very practical. For this one, you will need to get your hands dirty. It’s the fastest easiest way to incorporate all the ingredients. And for our oldest daughter, “Yes, Sweetie, this time I really mean mix it by hand.” – lol (That is in reference to the lemon bar fiasco of 1996 and taking the instruction to mix them by hand, very literally.)
Once all the ingredients have been thoroughly incorporated, I use a cookie dough scoop to shape the meatballs in uniform sizes. The shaped meatballs should be placed on a cookie sheet, leaving just enough space between them for air to circulate. I actually got 
54 meatballs to a sheet.
Bake them in a 350° oven for 20 minutes.
Okay, when these come out of the oven you will need some big sticks handy, to keep back the milling throng if you ever want these meatballs to see spaghetti sauce! They are addictively delicious and once they pop one, hot, delectable little sphere into their mouths, your family will want them all! Luckily, it’s a big batch so you have some wiggle room, but proceed with caution. – lol
Printable Glenda’s Spicy Meatball Recipe
Glenda’s Spaghetti Sauce
This is the point where honesty gets a little sticky. Spaghetti sauce recipes should be long and laborious and top secret passed down from generation to generation, right? Mine, not so much! It’s easy, fast and absolutely delicious. I have diced fresh tomatoes, peppers, onions and all the herbs and seasonings required for perfect, chef-quality sauces, cooked them over low heat for hours and hours and produced yummy sauces that are frankly not much different than what I am about to share with you. So, don’t think I am casting aspersions on your homemade sauces, I’m not. I love cooking from scratch and making things that could never be the same from a mix or a box. I just don’t have that kind of time or cash, when a good alternative is available. Here’s what we do.
Ingredients:
- 2 cans of the least expensive canned spaghetti sauce available, (brand varies by what’s on sale, but usually Hunts)
- (1) 14.5 oz can of petite diced tomatoes, undrained
- 1/4 – 1/3 cup of sugar, (adjust this to your own taste)
- 1 Tbl of dried Italian seasoning
Mix your sauce ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add the desired number of meatballs, reduce heat to simmer, cover and let the meatballs heat in the sauce for 15 or 20 minutes.
It’s not scientific or beautifully “chef’s kitchen”, but it is delicious and one of our family favorites. It’s a perfect quick fix when you’re in a hurry to get supper on the table! Serve over your favorite pasta. I also use this same sauce, minus the meatballs, when I make lasagna.
Of course, as usual, I always forget to take a final product picture for you, but since I had leftovers in the freezer I was able to snap a quick picture the next time we served this delicious main course. Notice the cranberry salad leftover from Thanksgiving? Yum!
Printable Spaghetti Sauce Recipe
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This post is linked to Tempt My Tummy Tuesday and Tasty Tuesday.
That recipe title makes me laugh. It looks like it should be someone’s name –granted, that someone would have suffered terribly in gradeschool. Poor kid. Anyway, it is supposed to be a copycat of an Olive Garden favorite. I have only been to Olive Garden once and I didn’t order this dish, so I can’t [...]
That recipe title makes me laugh. It looks like it should be someone’s name –granted, that someone would have suffered terribly in gradeschool. Poor kid.
Anyway, it is supposed to be a copycat of an Olive Garden favorite. I have only been to Olive Garden once and I didn’t order this dish, so I can’t say whether it compares favorably or not. However, when I found the recipe at Recipezaar, it had 64 5-star reviews from those who say it is as good or better.
I had so much fun at my Hunt’s Tomato House Party on Sunday. This is one of the dishes I served. It turned out to be a very hearty, soup that actually thickens over time. The noodles absorb the broth and all the flavors meld into a wonderful, comfort-food-style, Italian stew. I think it was even better the second day. This made a gigantic pot of soup and even after we served it at the party and again for supper, I put half in the freezer. The kids and I are still having the yummy leftovers from the other half for our lunches.
I stuck pretty close to the original recipe, this time, although I did make a few substitutions and additions. Here is our version of this delicious recipe.
Ingredient List
-
1 Tbl olive oil
-
2 lbs lean ground beef
-
4 large carrots, sliced thin
-
4 stalks celery, sliced thin
- 1 small yellow onion, chopped
-
(3) 14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes
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(2) 16 oz cans light red kidney beans
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(2) 16 oz cans great northern beans
-
8 cups beef broth
-
(2) 26 oz cartons beef stock
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1 Tbl Italian seasoning
-
2 tsp black pepper
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5 Tbl fresh Italian parsley, chopped
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2 tsp. Tabasco sauce
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(2) 26.5 oz cans spaghetti sauce
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1 lb of dried piccolini pasta
Place oil and ground beef in large stew pot or kettle. Saute until beef is browned.
Add onions, celery, carrots and diced 
tomatoes. Don’t drain the tomatoes. Allow the meat and vegetables to simmer for about 10 minutes.
Drain and rinse all four cans of beans. Add them to the meat and vegetables in your pot.
Add the beef broth, beef stock, Italian seasoning, chopped parsley, Tabasco, pepper and spaghetti sauce.
At this point, bring your soup to a gentle boil. Reduce the heat and allow to simmer for several hours. This will allow the flavors to meld and your house will smell amazing!
15 minutes prior to serving, add the piccolini noodles (or the pasta of your choice) and continue cooking until the noodles are tender.
Serve piping hot with a sprinkle of shredded parmesan or Italian blend cheeses. A lovely side salad and crusty bread are the perfect complements to complete a hearty, delicous meal!
