Marinara Sauce

Homemade marinara sauce is really easy to make. Our last Sunday dinner was spaghetti with meatballs. We had a busy day putting up the Christmas tree.
Here are all of the ingredients you need to make marinara:
You need:
a pork chop
a couple cans of whole peeled tomatoes
dried oregano
dried basil
an onion
garlic
some crushed red pepper flakes
olive oil
fresh ground black pepper
salt

1) Brown the pork chop really well in some olive oil in a big pot.
2) Chop the onion and garlic up really finely - I use a food processor.
3) When the porkchop is done browning remove it from the pot and saute the onions and garlic in the tasty porky oil.
4) The next step is up to your tastes. If you like a really smooth sauce you can briefly pulse the tomatoes in the food processor. If you like a little chunkier sauce then just add the whole tomatoes to the pot and crush with a potato masher.
5) Return the pork chop to the pot along with the tomatoes. Add a little basil, a little oregano and a little crushed red pepper. Also grind some pepper into the pot. You won't need more than a teaspoon of each. Be careful with the red pepper, try it with 1/4 teaspoon the first time. I like to use a LOT of fresh ground black pepper.
6) Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 1 hour. At the end of cooking remove the chop from the pot and save it for the cook to eat.
7) Season the sauce to taste with salt.
At this point you can add the cooked meatballs to the pot or you can use the sauce in other dishes like lasagna or eggplant parmesan.
We had a big Sunday spaghetti and meatball feed. It is one of the little one's favorite meals.