Tomato Sauce with a Secret

I saw a recipe by Jamie Oliver (the chef) in one of my parenting magazines for a tomato sauce that his 4 kids love, is easy to make, and packed with vegetables. The best part is that it makes a huge batch, enough for many meals, and can be used as the sauce for many different things. I changed it a bit just cuz I am like that. Fickle, ya know. That's me!

Prep time: 20 min with kids helping (faster if by myself)

Cook time: 60 min

Recipe:

2 med onions, chopped

2 bell peppers (we used orange) chopped

4 stalks celery chopped

2 small zuchinis grated

4 carrots grated

olive oil

Cook in olive oil in large covered pot over med heat for about 20 minutes, or until veggies are soft but not browned

Peel, seed, and thinly slice 1/2 med butternut squash, add to pot with 1 C chicken stock

continue cooking until squash is very soft. 

Add 5 cans diced tomatoes, juice and all

Oregano, basil, bay leaf, black pepper and sea salt to taste

Continue cooking for about 20 minutes. 

Puree using stick blender.

Add 1/2 C grated parmesan

Store extra sauce in the freezer in meal-sized containers. This sauce can be used with pasta, on pizza, or as the base for a soup. Your imagination sets the limits. 

Grating veggies is a cool way to get kids to help. Just watch those fingers! I think chopping all the veggies would be fine, too. The goal is just to get everything cooked. The harder the veggie, the smaller you should chop it to insure even cooking.

All 3 boyz love to help in the kitchen. The other two did help, but they were only wearing underwear so no pics of them. I don't think there is ever a time that at least one of them is only in there underwear!

 I need to work on my photos of food. It's a lot harder than it looks to get decent pictures.

 I LOVE my stick blender. It took about a minute to blend this whole pot of sauce. I cooked in a deep pot so I didn't have to worry about splattering sauce everywhere. That thing is very powerful.

I decided to try out the sauce in a very simple pasta dish. I sliced and browned some mild italian sausage.

Then I added sauce and portobella mushrooms, and heated through. While that was bubbling on the stove, I cooked large elbow macaroni. We ate the sauce over the noodles and it was a big hit. The sauce is a little bit sweet for my tastes, but everyone else loved it. Even my veggie-phobic husband liked it.  I have 4 quart sized containers in the freezer plus the leftovers from last night. Score!