Italian night!

Today I just wanted some spaghetti and W completely agreed with me! I usually always make my sauce from scratch, so I thought I'd share some pics with you of the process. I always start with getting all of the ingredients needed an pile those on the counter so I don't forget anything and to also make absolutely sure that I have everything needed to complete a recipe. Here is my spaghetti sauce pile:

After browning that onion and garlic, which smelled absolutely delicious btw, I dumped in all of the cans of tomatoes and added the spices:

I then had to make some Italian bread to go along with the spaghetti. If you have never tried baking bread before, I would strongly recommend that you try it because absolutely nothing can compare to fresh homemade bread! Here is that ingredients pile (minus the pumpkins and squash in the background, obviously!):

I usually make my bread in my bread machine or by hand, but I was in a bit of a hurry since the bread needs an hour to raise and 30 min to bake, so this time I used my mixer. This was the first time I attempted that and it worked wonderfully! After proofing the yeast:

I threw everything in the mixing bowl and let the mixer do it's job. I always sprinkle my pans with cornmeal when I am baking bread because that is what keeps it from sticking instead of greasing the pan, which in my experience, makes a mess and can burn the bread.

I rolled the bread into two loaves and placed them on the baking sheet to raise and into the oven they went.

Unfortunately, I didn't take a pic before we just had to try some of the warm bread straight from oven! LOL! I did remember to take a pic before we ate the second loaf, so that is why the pan only shows one loaf.

My son is always the first to beg for the warm bread when I open the oven door or take it out of the bread machine. Maybe he is my future baker? Anyways, the meal turned out great and the good news is that there is leftovers for tomorrow!