Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Fresh Tomato Spaghetti Sauce



We had a ton of fresh tomatoes that I wanted to use up before they went bad. My girls love spaghetti so I thought I'd find a homemade spaghetti sauce that uses fresh tomatoes. I came across this recipe on food.com that fit the bill. I made a few changes to it and everyone in the family thought it was wonderful. My 3.5 year old kept saying how yummy it was. I couldn't help but smile knowing how healthy it was for her. :)

Ingredients:
4 lbs fresh tomatoes, chopped (I used about 7-10 tomatoes)
2 medium onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
grated parmesan cheese
Optional - jarred spaghetti sauce

To cook pasta sauce, heat olive oil over medium heat in a large iron skillet or heavy saucepan. Add onion, basil, garlic and salt. Saute until onion is tender, approximately 5 minutes.

Add tomato and sugar; heat to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered for about 2-3 hours, stirring often or until sauce has thickened. The original recipe asks to peel the tomatoes which I didn't do. You'll need to cook it a little longer if you leave the skin on, which I recommend. Tomatoes have a lot of health benefits in the skin - why would you cut it off?! After the sauce thickened I felt it needed something more. I had some organic jarred spaghetti sauce that I added until I was happy with the consistency. Feel free to omit that step if you want.



Serve over warm spaghetti and enjoy!

1 comment:

olivia kim said...

i just ran across your site by accident but enjoyed reading it. i also have two daughters. i know how challenging it can be to make meals for children. thanks for the extra ideas. ^^