Chris' Spaghetti

Growing up, my version of spaghetti was noodles with warmed up sauce. If we got fancy we added ground beef or meatballs. I thought it was pretty good - until I tried my Mother-in-law's recipe. From then on, I was hooked. She made this for us all the time when we were newlyweds. I finally asked her for the recipe and although I don't think mine turns out quite like hers does, it's still pretty good.

Ingredients:

1 lb lean ground beef
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
2 plum tomatoes, diced
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 jar traditional spaghetti sauce, plus 1/2 jar of water
1 package McCormick Thick and Zesty spaghetti mix
1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Brown hamburger until cooked most of the way through; drain the grease. Add the garlic, onions, bell pepper, salt and pepper; cook about 5-7 minutes. Add the spaghetti sauce, water, tomatoes, spaghetti mix and tomato sauce; stir over low heat. Cover and simmer on very low for about 30-45 minutes. Cook spaghetti noodles according to package directions then top with sauce. *I generally cook 1 box of noodles (1 lb) so that I have leftovers for the next day.