Ditch the pre-made sauces for this Simple Tomato Sauce with extra veggies.

A Simple Tomato Sauce recipe should be in any parents tool kit. Kids, especially fussy eaters, gravitate to tomato sauce whether it’s on plain pasta or as a dip.

Making tomato sauce is so easy and affordable. It also gives you the opportunity to add ingredients that can help boost your child’s nutrient intake. If your child is particularly fussy, you can initially hide these ingredients as you increase their exposure to new foods. Eventually, you won’t need to be so sneaky about what you put in the sauce.

If your child is extremely fussy or has attachments to particular premade tomato sauces, you may need to introduce your homemade sauce slowly. This could be as little as adding 1 tbsp before increasing the amount gradually over time. For this, I suggest you pour the tomato sauce into ice cube trays and freeze.

Use your Simple Tomato Sauce for pasta, as a spread on a pizza base or as a dip for veggie sticks, sausage rolls or nuggets.

How to make this Simple Tomato Sauce

To make my Simple Tomato Sauce, heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onions and celery, and sauté for 2-3 minutes until translucent. Add the carrot, zucchini, capsicum, paprika, turmeric and oregano.

Pour in the passata and chicken broth. Bring to a boil before adding the tomato paste and apple cider vinegar. Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the garlic and spinach, and cook for a further 5 minutes.

When the vegetables are tender, remove from the heat. Allow the sauce to cool slightly before using a stick blender or stand-alone blender to puree it until smooth. If too thick, add some more broth or water.

Pour the sauce into jars, containers or ice cube trays. Make sure the sauce is completely cool before placing it into the refrigerator or freezer.

If you try making your own Simple Tomato Sauce, please let me know!

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HAPPY COOKING!

Simple Tomato Sauce

Prep time: 10 mins | Cooking time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 brown onion, diced

2 celery sticks, finely diced

2 carrots, finely diced

2 zucchinis, finely diced

1 red capsicum, finely diced

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 cup of spinach

1.4kg passata

500 ml chicken broth

1 tbsp tomato paste

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

2 tsp dried oregano

2 tsp sweet paprika

2 tsp turmeric powder

Instructions:

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onions and celery, and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Add the carrot, zucchini, capsicum, paprika, turmeric and oregano.

Pour in the passata and chicken broth. Bring to a boil before adding the tomato paste and apple cider vinegar.

Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the garlic and spinach and cook for a further 5 minutes.

Remove from the heat. Allow to cool slightly before using a blender to puree the sauce. If too thick, add some more broth or water.

Pour the sauce into jars, containers or icecube trays for smaller quanities. Make sure the sauce is completely cool before placing it into the refrigerator or freezer.

Note:

This Simple Tomato Sauce can be used for pasta, pizza or as a sauce to dip nuggets or homemade sausage rolls.

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