Manor House Studio owners Amanda and Robert Hasemeier have been long time supporters of the Central Penn Food Bank and other nutrition support efforts. In August, Robert encountered some good values on institutional sized canned tomatoes and pasta products. Since these food items are nutritious and easy to work with, he donated them to The Link 4 Youth ( www.thelink4youth.org ) located at 1200 Drexel Hills Blvd., New Cumberland, PA 17070, a short distance off the I-83 interchange for New Cumberland. This organization has several youth-oriented programs and seeks to make sure participants have enough to eat. They are always looking for food donations and volunteers to help prepare meals, among their many program activities.

Since pasta and marinara sauce is a common meal that is relatively easy to create, we are sharing two recipes from Consumer Reports (CR). Manor House Studio owners have been subscribers to Consumer Reports since approximately 1974 and in the mid 1980’s the magazine published some do-it-yourself recipes for products and tested the recipes as if they were part of the product evaluation. The goal was to offer consumers a more frugal alternative to purchasing a grocery product that performed as well or better. What follows is excerpted from the October 1985 issue of CR. Product names in the recipe are not necessarily endorsed by owners of Manor House Studio , but shared as published by CR as reprinted below. CR’s homemade spaghetti sauces are easy to make and were judged excellent by our sensory consultants. You can make the basic recipe plain or jazz it up with mushrooms or meat. If you like a spicier sauce, you can make the marinara recipe. Both recipes yield six ¾ cup servings.

Basic Sauce Recipe
5 tbsp. olive oil
1 28-oz. can Redpack concentrated crushed tomatoes
1 15-oz. can Contadina tomato sauce
1 tbsp. minced dehydrated onion
½ tsp. minced dehydrated garlic
½ tsp. dried basil
¼ tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. oregano
½ tsp. dried parsley

Heat the olive oil in a six-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add the crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce. Add the remaining ingredients. Blend in thoroughly. Simmer for 30 minutes over low heat, stirring often. For mushroom sauce, sauté one drained 4 ½ ounce jar of Green Giant mushrooms in the olive oil. Continue as for basic sauce. For meat sauce, brown ½ pound of ground beef in a pan. Drain off fat; add to basic sauce during last 10 minutes of simmering.

Marinara Recipe

3 tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
½ medium green pepper, chopped
I 28-oz. can Redpack Italian-style whole tomatoes in sauce
1 15-oz. can Contadina tomato sauce
½ tsp. minced dehydrated garlic
½ tsp. dried basil
¼ tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. oregano
½ tsp. dried parsley

Heat the olive oil in a six-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add the fresh onion, celery, and green pepper, and sauté until transparent. Add the tomato products and stir thoroughly. Add the remaining ingredients. Simmer the sauce for 30 minutes, stirring frequently.

MHS Note: Today, you will find that the size of the tomato cans have not experienced “shrinkflation”.