Homemade Tomato Sauce: a versatile sauce brimming with hidden nutrients

When it comes to sauces, tomato might be the most popular around. Appearing in countless pasta dishes, soups, and as a vital ingredient for pizza, tomato sauce is ever prevalent. With tomatoes being a substantial source of vitamin C, lycopene, and vitamin E, you'd think that adding tomato sauce to your meal would be a guaranteed way of enhancing your food's health-value, right? Not always.

Store-bought tomato sauces can be sneaky sources of added sugar, many containing 8-10 grams for a half cup serving. That's around the same amount you'll find in a serving of Nabisco Chips Ahoy! Original Chocolate Chip cookies. The next time you go to make a dish with tomato sauce, why not forgo the added sugar and cook up your own? Besides, you can't even begin to compare store-bought sauce to the freshness and taste of homemade!

I recently tried out the Super Healthy Tomato Pasta Sauce recipe from Jeanette's Healthy Living, and my family can vouch for me when I say it was delicious! What's great about this recipe in particular is that it manages to pack in extra veggies for an added nutritional boost, and you don't even notice they're there! (This is great for those who aren't vegetable fans and need to get their fill.) My step-mom and I made a slightly different version than the original recipe in that we used diced tomatoes as opposed to pureed, whole peeled tomatoes. This made for a chunkier sauce, so if you'd prefer a smoother sauce, I recommend going by the original's cooking instructions (link provided above).

I've been eating the leftovers plain, sans any bread, crackers,
or pasta. It's that good.

To make this veggie-packed tomato sauce, you'll need: (makes a large pot's worth)

- 1.5 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion
- 1 cup carrots
- 1 cup celery
- 1 red bell pepper
- 10 ounces mushrooms (you can find 10 oz packages at Trader Joe's)
- 4 cloves garlic
- 3 28-ounce cans diced tomatoes
- Salt and pepper, to taste

Before you start cooking, chop up the onion, carrots, celery, red bell pepper, mushrooms, and garlic. Once prepped, heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat and add in all the chopped veggies. Sauté all until the onions soften— this should only take a few minutes. (If it's easier for you, you could sauté the veggies in a separate pan and then transfer them into the pot once they're ready, but keep in mind you'll have more to clean up!) When ready, pour the diced tomatoes into the pot with all the juice.

Let all come to a boil before reducing the heat to low, allowing the ingredients to simmer for 30-40 minutes. Add in the salt and pepper, and you're read to use the sauce on whatever dish you please! Bon appétit!