Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Veggie Packed Pizza Sauce


Cooking for kids is never easy... or appreciated! I have a 13 month old and a 3 1/2 year old, so almost everything I make either ends up on the floor or is pushed away with declarations of "I don't like dat mommy!" Some days I want to cry, others I just shrug and say "well I guess you're gonna be hungry today then".

I'm sure every mom can agree that veggies, at one time or another, are the real battle. Whether it's the texture, the taste or merely the colour, kids seem to avoid veggies like I avoid 3-sided mirrors.

There are a few cookbooks out on the market about hiding fruits and veggies in sneaky ways to trick kids into eating them. I'm not cruel enough to hide spinach in a brownie (I love spinach but that particular combination gives me the dry heaves) but I am willing to sneak extra veggies into recipes where it seems fitting, like my homemade pizza sauce.

A variety of roasted veggies paired with garlic and tomato paste and then puréed until smooth makes a healthy, vitamin and nutrient rich sauce that your family will love, even if your pizza is a meat lovers!

Veggie Packed Pizza Sauce

1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 red pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 yellow pepper, seeded and chopped
1 stalk celery, diced
1 c. mushrooms, cleaned and chopped
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp dried oregano
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. sea salt (optional, but I find it helps to balance the sweetness of the tomato paste)
1 can tomato paste
1 c. crushed tomatoes

Instructions:

1. Roughly chop your veggies (no need to be fussy as it will all be puréed) and place in a large bowl.
2. Add garlic, oregano, salt and olive oil and mix to coat.
3. Spread veggies out on a cookie sheet and roast in a 450˚F oven for 15-20 minutes.
4. Remove veggies from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
5. Add veggies to a food processor or blender and purée until smooth.
6. Add tomato paste and crushed tomatoes to veggie purée and blend until smooth.
7. Store in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.

Tip: I spread a generous amount of sauce onto a greek pita, top with a little bit of part skim mozzarella and pop it into a 350˚F oven for 10 minutes and my kids have a super fast and easy lunch that they gobble up with no food throwing or complaints!

enjoy!
Amanda

15 comments:

  1. I don't see why not. I freeze pasta and marinara sauce all the time and it's basically the same stuff! You might find it to be a bit watery when it thaws, I'd just add a bit more tomato paste or pour off the excess liquid. Hope that helps!

    Amanda

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  2. Thanks for the great recipe Amanda - and it sounds pretty straight-forward. I was also going to ask about freezing it! Question answered. Callum loves pizza too! Oh, and the sea salt is a must!!! LOVE my sea salt.

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  3. Yum-o! Making this this weekend. Thanks so much.

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  4. You are truly amazing!!!! You're inspiring. I vow to one day make something from your blog of yummy recipes! This pizza sauce looks great - I'm sure my boys will love it! Thank you!

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  5. This is great idea! And hiding all those veggies, so sneaky, they'll never know. It's on my list to try, thanks for the inspiration.

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  6. Does it have to be stored for three weeks? ?? How bout a day? ? Or.couple hours

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  7. i know this is an old post but i would like to comment anyway. i have tried this pizza sauce so many times. every time it comes out just as delicious as the time before. i love that i can add more veggies to it if i want. my picky 4 year old sometimes takes off the cheese from the pizza just to lick off the sauce! thank you so much :)

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  8. That's awesome! Thanks for commenting Georgina!

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  9. This sounds delicious! Stumbled across this whilst trying to find a way to get vegetables into my son's very restricted diet!

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  10. If he eats it let me know!

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  11. I just wanted to thank you for this awesome recipe, my 4 years old son is autistic and doesn't eat any hot meals except home made pizza with your veggies sauce, he loves it! x

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  12. Awww, that's awesome! Thanks for sharing that :)

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  13. Georgina, my son seems to love the sauce more than the pizza :D currently he's sitting at the table, eating a bowl of the sauce on it's own ( luckily I managed to put some on the pizza before he got his hands on the bowl)

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