Mom's Spaghetti Sauce

We love a big plate of spaghetti in our house.  It's one of my all time favorites with my Mom's homemade spaghetti sauce.  Since there were six kids in my family growing up and money was tight, for our birthday our Mom used to let us pick what we wanted for dinner.  It would always be her homemade spaghetti.  It was one of the first things I learned to make and still make a big pot once every couple weeks to this day. Just the smell of this sauce simmering makes my mouth water. The leftover sauce freezes well and is great to use for lasagna too!  You won't be disappointed in this spaghetti sauce.  I have the original recipe cards my Mother wrote this recipe on from her recipe box.  The only change I make today is to use 1 lb. of ground beef instead of two, it just depends on how meaty you like it. I know it looks like a lot of ingredients, but it is really easy to make and is well worth the time.

Here is my Mother's recipe for Spaghetti Sauce
(printable recipe)

2 lbs. ground beef (I use 1 lb.)
2  28oz. cans whole tomatoes
2  5 1/2 oz. cans tomato paste
1 large spanish onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
5 cloves of garlic chopped, or 2 tsp. garlic powder
1 medium can of tomato juice
1 can mushroom pieces, drained
2 tsp. poultry seasoning
1 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. marjoram
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. white sugar
1 1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
6 whole cloves or 1/2 tsp. ground cloves

Brown ground beef.  Add onion, garlic, celery, green pepper and cook until softened.  About 5 minutes.  Drain off fat.  Add canned tomatoes (breaking up with spoon or hand), tomato juice, tomato paste and canned mushrooms.  Bring to boil.  Add poultry seasoning, onion powder, marjoram, salt, pepper, sugar, chili powder, cayenne pepper and cloves.  Reduce to simmer.  Let simmer for up to 3 hours.  The longer the better!  This sauce is always better the next day!