Meat Sauce

Line four 8x8x2-inch baking pans with heat-resistant freezer wrap. Allow enough extra wrap to fold over top. Use one pan for each six servings or one-fourth of the recipe. Baking pans are not needed for food to be served without freezing. Crumble beef; cook until lightly browned. Stir in onion and pepper flakes. Drain off excess fat. Stir remaining ingredients into meat mixture. Cook slowly, stirring occasionally for 1 hour or until flavors are blended. TO SERVE WITHOUT FREEZING: Serve hot mixture over cooked macaroni, noodles, or spaghetti. TO FREEZE: Pour each part to be frozen into a baking pan. Pack food tightly to avoid air pockets. Cool for 30 minutes at room temperature. Complete wrapping by pulling paper up over top of food. Put edges of wrap together and fold several times so paper lies directly on top of food. Fold ends of freezer wrap over the top and seal with freezer tape. Label with name of food, date of freezing, and last date the food should be used for best eating quality (about 4 months). Freeze immediately for 10 to 12 hours before removing packages from the pans. TO HEAT FROZEN SAUCE: Preheat oven to 400? F. (hot). Remove freezer wrap. Place food in baking pan. Bake 1 1/4 hours or until mixture is bubbly at edges and center is hot. Serve over cooked macaroni, noodles, or spaghetti. Posted to MC-Recipe Digest V1 #184 Date: Mon, 05 Aug 1996 11:23:47 -0500 From: "R. Winters" <rosie@iadfw.net> Serving Ideas : Serve over macaroni, noodles, or spaghetti. NOTES : This recipe is for 24 servings (about 3/4 cups each). Directions= are given for dividing the prepared food into four parts of six servings= each. One part may be completely cooked and served at the time of= preparation. The remaining parts may be frozen.