5 Things to Do with a Jar of Pasta Sauce

The Today show had some helpful tips on what you could do with a simple store-bought jar of pasta sauce.  Host Ann Curry said that most families don’t use the whole jar in one sitting (my family of five certainly does but I usually make it fresh anyway) so she wanted to hear some ideas for what to do with the leftovers.

The first thing they mentioned was making a cocktail sauce.  To make it, combine half a jar of sauce with horseradish, lemon juice and hot sauce to taste.  If you serve it with shrimp, it’s a quick and easy appetizer!

Another idea was to make a salsa by adding cilantro, lemon juice and whatever you like in your salsa (hot sauce, onions, corn, scallions, green pepper). 

Sloppy Joes was another suggestion and they actually looked pretty good to me.  Just add the sauce to some ground beef/chicken/turkey or sausage and put it on a bun.  Easy!

Adding some pasta sauce to sautéed herbs and cream can make an almost instant cream of tomato soup (and it looked creamy and tasty!).  That’s a great idea for lunch the day after pasta night.

The final tip was to thin it out and make a Bloody Mary with Worcestershire sauce, horseradish and lime juice.  Ann Curry seemed to like it.  I’ve never had the real drink but now I’m curious about how this pasta sauce cocktail tastes!