Healthy Tomato Sauce + Keeping it Local

 Make your own delicious Healthy Tomato Sauce at home and know exactly what you are eating! This recipe shows you how easy it can be!

Local food. Whole Food.

I feel like these words get thrown around a lot these days and I think for good reason.

I have a favorite gourmet food shop in my town, that is quaint, and the owner Dave, makes the most delicious food (Dave has cooked with Julia Child. I did just say Julia Child!).  Not only do I buy food from him, but I attend his cooking classes whenever possible.  He is a wonderful cook that not only shows you how to make a recipe but tells you all of his tips & tricks. Dave also has a passion for local food and stresses the importance of trying to stay away from processed food. You are what you eat right?  I believe this to be true. I recently saw this on Pinterest and thought it was worth sharing….

Eating healthy, nutritious food and knowing where our food comes from is important.

I try my hardest to read labels, find out where a product comes from and buying the closest thing to a whole food that I can.  I will be the firs to admit that I buy cereal sometimes, I buy canned beans and canned diced tomatoes but I pick what is most important to me.  For me, it is things like organic milk, eggs and meat and local fresh produce whenever possible. For you, it might be something else. Most of us are on a budget so we can’t always buy the most expensive, local, organic product out there, but we can be conscious of what we put in our body and try to help change the culture of food in the U.S.

I could bore you with pages on this topic, but for me it is important. It was worth writing a 40 page final paper in graduate school.  Food matters. It matters to me. It matters to the children that sit down every day at school to eat lunch among their peers. It is the building blocks to a healthy, happy child and adult.

Healthy Tomato Sauce

So on the topic of what we put into our body.  Instead of buying jarred tomato sauce try making this Healthy Tomato Sauce. Dave gave me this Healthy Tomato Sauce recipe which I slightly adapted. It is easy to make and you will know exactly what is in the finished product. 

I used Saporita tomatoes which are from California that Dave carries at his store.

They are strips of peeled tomatoes (so much flavor) but if you can’t find these use San Marzanos or any of your favorite canned tomato varieties.  Diced tomatoes work fine, by the way, but I really enjoyed these strips of peeled tomatoes, so if you can find them try it out. Since tomatoes are not currently in season (in Chicago), going the canned tomato route is best.

• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 1 hour
• Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
• Yield: 5-6 1x
• Category: Pasta Sauce
• Cuisine: Italian

Print

Pin

---

Description

A fresh homemade pasta sauce perfect for Italian dishes or freeze and use later.

---

Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 4 cups canned tomatoes (diced or stewed work)
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tsp. Herbes de Provence
• 6–7 fresh basil leaves, chopped or 3 teaspoons dried basil
• Dash of salt and pepper to taste

---

Instructions

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat and sauté garlic and onion until lightly browned.
2. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour.
3. Serve over freshly cooked pasta with a little freshly grated Parmesan.

---

Notes

Use this sauce over lasagna, a bowl of pasta, as a sauce over chicken parmigiana a dip for mozzarella sticks or garlic bread, pizza and many, many more dishes. Freezing the sauce: I like to freeze half of this sauce and use it for meals down the road. To freeze this you need to make sure it cools completely and put it in the refrigerator overnight. The next day you can transfer it into freezer safe containers or even a large freezer safe ziplock bag and label it with the date. Make sure to only fill the jar or bag 3/4 of the way full as the sauce will expand in the freezer.

Do you support local food growers, farmers markets, ect? Are there certain foods, and recipes you have to make completely from scratch? I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas.

 Thanks for listening! I hope you love this Healthy Tomato Sauce as much as I do.

Julia