My next-door neighbor knocked on the door just now. Wanted to know
how to make my marinara. She is a nice Peruvian lady, so I spent 20
minutes helping her write down my tips on marinara. Here is my
marinara recipe type of thing. Oh - she knocked cause I just started
making a huge pot of the stuff so my mom could steal most of it and
give it to her pastor tonight at church.

First, heat some olive oil in your pot on low. How much? I guess a
couple of TBS, depending on the size of your pan. Just enough to coat
the bottom with a very thin film of oil AFTER the oil has heated. So
a little puddle in the middle when it is cold, then turn the heat on
low, and it should be a thin film once it heats up.

I use a garlic press to press in about 6 cloves of garlic. I am just
gently heating the garlic, barely sizzles. A Cuisinart-type of
appliance will work if you don't have a press, or don't want to clean
the press.

After a minute of sizzle, I added one onion, diced pretty fine. Heck,
use the Cuisinart if you feel the need, although a knife is easier to
clean. I turned the heat up to medium. After the onion starts is
saute, I added a pinch of kosher salt, ran the pepper mill for some
fresh pepper, and added maybe 1 tbsp of dried Italian seasoning. Then
I cooked it till the onions started getting a bit soft.

Next, I dumped in the tomato. I used 8 14.5oz cans of Organic Hunts
diced tomato this time, since they were cheap at the $0.99 store
(2/$1). I used my blender to puree the tomato before I dumped them
into the pot.

I then turned the heat up to high. I also added some more kosher salt
and cracked pepper (don't know how much, you can guess I am sure). I
also added 2 TB of dried Italian seasoning, and 1 TB of dried basil.

Once the sauce is boiling, turn it down to a simmer, cover it, and let
it go for a while. 1/2 hour seems the minimum, but 1 hour is better.
1.5 hours is perfect.

Zucchini, more diced onion, mushrooms, shredded carrot, and/or other
veggies can be added when you dump in the tomato. Depends on what you
like.

After I turn the heat off, I add some shredded fresh basil. That is
about it.