HELOISE Top favorite kind of pasta with popular spaghetti sauce

Dear Heloise: Your column recently mentioned your mother's recipe for spaghetti sauce, but the recipe was not given. I would love to have it. I checked your Web site, but the recipe wasn't there. Could you please reprint this recipe? A reader, via e-mail
I would be happy to reprint this often-asked-for recipe for you and other readers who might be interested. You will need:
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup butter
1 cup finely chopped onions
1 pound ground beef
4 strips finely chopped bacon
4 cloves garlic, chopped fine
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
1 bay leaf, chopped fine
1 tablespoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon crushed dry red pepper
2 ounces red wine
2 cans (14 to 15 ounces) whole tomatoes or tomato sauce
1 small can tomato paste
1 cup water
1 finely chopped or grated medium carrot
Heat olive oil over low heat in a pot large enough to hold all ingredients. Add butter and simmer until melted. Add onions and saut & eacute; until lightly browned. Add ground beef and bacon; saut & eacute; until browned, stirring occasionally. Add garlic, parsley, bay leaf, salt, black pepper and red pepper. Cook over low heat for 10 minutes. Add wine, cover and steam for a few minutes more.
Add tomatoes or tomato sauce, paste and water. Bring the mixture to the boiling point and add the chopped carrot. Cover and cook over very low heat for an hour, stirring occasionally. Serve over your favorite cooked pasta.
This is so delicious and seems to get better the next day! Bon app & eacute;tit! Heloise
Here are two hints from Mary Kromenacker of Louisville, Ky.:
UThe suggestion to open both ends of a can to easily remove tomato paste works on any solid-packed canned goods (pumpkin, cranberries, etc.).
UTo easily remove shortening, butter, peanut butter, syrup or molasses from measuring cups, first rinse the cup with cold water and tap out the excess. Do not dry -- your measurement will slide right out.
Dear Heloise: When I buy a "two for one" and need to store the extra somewhere else, I put a label on the active jar/package saying "more on top shelf of the pantry." This way, I don't forget about my extra.
If I can store the extra in its proper place, I turn it upside down. The open container is right-side up, ready for use. Patricia Brown from Hawaii
Mahalo ("thank you" in Hawaiian). Love your hint, and here's another thought: Pick up an extra can or two to donate to a food pantry. Heloise
Dear Heloise: I have a wonderful hint for making cupcakes or muffins. I've noticed that sometimes when you use those little muffin cups in your pan, the batter still likes to stick to the side of the muffin cup. But if you spray the muffin cup with cooking spray, it helps keep it from sticking. Sarah, Minneapolis
XSend a great hint to: Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, Texas 78279-5000; fax: (210) HELOISE; e-mail: Heloise@Heloise.
King Features Syndicate