My boyfriend and I are both foodies, so imagine my horror when I discovered my toddler wanted nothing except boxed Mac & Cheese and tasteless, overcooked canned pasta! So naturally I set out to make a homemade version, the canned pasta has HFCS and almost no veggies. I found a sauce we can both live with.
Ingredients: [‘carrots’, ‘celery ribs’, ‘bell pepper’, ‘crushed tomatoes’, ‘salt’, ‘dried basil’, ‘butter’]
Quantity of Ingredients: [“4 large carrots, finely diced “,”4 celery ribs, finely diced “,”1 bell pepper, finely diced (any color)”,”32 ounces crushed tomatoes”,”1 tablespoon salt”,”1 tablespoon dried basil”,”1 tablespoon butter (olive oil if you prefer)”]
Number of Servings: 15
Steps: [‘Place olive oil in large pot and heat over medium heat until shimmering.’, ‘Start your dicing with the carrots and work your way down my list of ingredients and throwing each veg into the pot with a sprinkle of salt when finished.’, ‘Sweat the veggies on medium to low heat until fork tender (about 10 minutes).’, ‘Add the tomatoes and bring up to a low simmer, cover and simmer for around 40 minutes.’, ‘Take the top off and let some of the liquid boil away, how far you let it reduce is up to you and how thin you want the sauce to be, I like it thick so that I can add some of the pasta cooking water later on.’, ‘Take off the heat and let cool some before blending into liquid on high in your blender.’, ‘This sauce freezes well. Depending on your or your child’s taste you can add an onion and/or any dried or fresh herbs that hit your fancy. I freeze small containers and pull as I need. Placing it over whatever pasta I have on hand with some of the cooking water to reheat the sauce and my daughter loves it, although it doesn’t taste EXACTLY like the canned “yuck” sauce.’]