Quick Tips for Spaghetti Dinners

Spaghetti is one of our favorite meals for large family gatherings and Sunday dinners because it’s inexpensive, easy to make in large quantities and quick to pop in the crockpot ahead of time.  We usually make homemade sauce and we serve it with sauce and spaghetti separate (not mixed together).  

• Add a bit of oil to the spaghetti cooking water so that noodles don’t stick together.
• Break the dry spaghetti in half before adding to boiling water so that the shorter noodles are a little easier to eat.
• Thin spaghetti is considerably faster to cook.
• Use a spaghetti server to stir the noodles in the water to separate (but don’t stir too much as it will release starch and make the spaghetti gummy).

• To make ahead for Sunday dinner, put sauce ingredients in the crock of a crockpot the day before, store in the refrigerator overnight, and place the crock in the crock pot warmer early Sunday morning.  Cook on high, enjoy for lunch after church.  Alternatively, mix up the sauce early Sunday morning, put it in the crockpot on high and go. 
• Cook spaghetti noodles ahead of time and heat in the microwave if you wish.  We prefer to cook them fresh just before the meal.
• Less messy for little ones:  lightly buttered spaghetti with parmesan cheese only.
• Garlic bread in a pinch:  split hot dog buns, spread with butter, sprinkle with garlic powder or garlic salt, then broil in oven.
• Best use for leftover spaghetti sauce:  Pizza Tot Casserole

Charlotte Siems is a home-maker, home manager, T-Tapp Trainer, teacher, speaker and author.  Her story of losing over 100 pounds with T-Tapp has encouraged thousands of people all over the world.  She specializes in making home management and T-Tapp “doable” for real people and real life.  She is happy to be a wife and mother of twelve children whom she has successfully taught at home for 25 years.

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