Expert: Teri Davis Newman - 4/17/2009

Question
I am also having a spaghetti fundraiser for 50-80 people would you share the sauce recipe with me?

Answer
1 lb ground beef or pork
4 15oz cans any cheap tomato sauce
1 6 oz can tomato paste
1 tsp Basil
2 tsp garlic powder
1 TBS Italian Seasoning blend (Spice Islands)
1 bay leaf
2 tsp fennel seed
1/4 c. sugar (trust me)
1 tsp accent
crushed red pepper (for hot and spicy, optional)
Brown the beef, add the rest of the stuff, bring to a boil. Cool, boil,
cool, boil. When ready to serve, cook you favorite pasta shape according to
the directions on the box. Reheat the sauce and ladle over the cooked
drained pasta.

This recipe makes about a half gallon of sauce, you will need 1.5 cups of sauce per serving and you should use a measured 12 ounce ladle for portion control. You can use ground beef or ground pork depending on what's on sale.  I've also used ground turkey with excellent results--you can't tell it's not beef! Here's the recipe scaled for 80 servings:
10 lbs ground beef
20 28 oz cans any cheap tomato sauce
5 12 oz cans tomato paste (Optional-if the sauce is thin you need it)
3 TBS tsp Basil
7 TBS garlic powder
10 TBS Italian Seasoning blend (Spice Islands)
10 bay leaves
6 TBS fennel seed
3  c. sugar (trust me)
3  TBS accent
crushed red pepper (for hot and spicy, optional)
Brown the beef, add the rest of the stuff, bring to a boil. Cool, boil,
cool, boil. When ready to serve, cook you favorite pasta shape according to
the directions on the box. Reheat the sauce and ladle over the cooked
drained pasta.