My Marinara Sauce w/ Pizza Burgers

I found the easiest homemade Marinara Sauce, with minimal ingredients and minimal hands-on time.  The best part is by making it yourself you can control what goes into the sauce.  No high fructose corn syrup, no preservatives, you get the idea... Giada De Laurentiis made it on the Rachel Ray Show.   Besides serving it over rotini pasta for meatless Monday, I also used it on tonight's Pizza burgers. 

Marinara Sauce
makes 2 qts, time: 5 min hands-on, 1 hr cooking

Ingredients
2 (32oz) cans organic crushed tomatoes (I actually used 1 crushed and 1 diced tomatoes for a chunkier sauce)
2 cloves garlic, whole
1 medium onion (vidalia or white), peeled and left whole
2 stalks celery, cut in half
2 carrots, peeled & cut in half
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly cracked pepper
2 dried bay leaves
2-3 tbsp butter
5 fresh basil leaves, torn

Directions
In a large pot, add tomatoes, garlic, onion, celery, carrots, salt, pepper, & bay leaves.  Simmer uncovered over low heat until sauce thickens (about 1 hr).  Remove & discard bay leaves, onion, celery, carrots, & garlic.  Turn off heat, add butter and basil leaves.

*If serving with Pasta, toss 1/2 of sauce with pasta & Parmesan cheese.
*Re-use a washed pasta sauce jar to store extra sauce in fridge for up to a week, or freeze in a Ziploc freezer bag for up to 3 mos.
      *Re-warm sauce in a pot over medium heat

Pizza Burgers
Serves 6-8, time: 20min total

Ingredients
1 large egg
2 cups Homemade Marinara Sauce, divided
1/2 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
2 cloves minced garlic
2 lbs ground beef (I cut recipe, used 1.25 lbs)
1 tbsp EVOO
1 cup mozzarella cheese (I used Rice cheese, mozzarella flavor)
6-8 rolls (optional, we served ours bun-less)

Directions
Preheat Grill, oil w/ EVOO once heated.
Beat egg, & 1/4 cup Marinara sauce in a large bowl.  Stir in bread crumbs, oregano, dried basil, & garlic.  Add beef, and mix well (with hands, get dirty).  Shape into 6-8 patties.  Grill burgers for 10-13 minutes, flipping halfway through.
Heat remaining Marinara sauce.  Top burgers with Marinara, then cheese.

*Serve with a side caesar salad, and enjoy!!

I hope you enjoy these two super easy, kid-friendly recipes.  You'll never go back to store-bought sauce again!!  Thanks, Giada!!