I’m participating in a 5-a-day challenge on blog to lose to try to eat all your veggies and fruits per day. So far, its going great. I’ve been eating fruits and veggies as snacks and sneaking them in my smoothies, and tonight I snuck a ton in my pasta sauce!
Since its getting towards the end of the week I wanted to kind of clean out my veggie drawer. I had 2 tomatoes, 1/2 an onion about 1/2 a head of cauliflower, 1/2 a green pepper, some carrots, jalapeno and garlic. I wondered what would happen if I pureed all those and added it to some crushed tomatoes, italian spices, and some ground sirloin beef??
I figured cauliflower doesn’t really taste like anything, so I cooked that in my microwave. Meanwhile, I peeled a couple carrots, threw in the onion 1/2 the jalapeno (seeds removed) and tomatoes, green pepper and garlic into my blender. I was going to blend the heck out of it so it was super smooth.
I tried to work fast, so my kids couldn’t see what I was doing!
Here’s another view:
It wasn’t really getting blended since I didn’t have any liquid to it, so I decided to add a 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes so it could blend really well together.
So, as that was being blended, in a big pot, I browned about 1/2 a pound of ground sirloin.
I added the blender full of veggies into the pot and added Italian seasoning, salt and pepper, a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes.
I also added a 14 oz. can of tomato sauce
Once it had cooked for about 15 minutes, I added an 8 oz. box of cooked shell pasta
It was awesome!! Everyone had seconds (except me!! although it was hard to have just one serving!
So I ended up telling my kids what was in it, and you know what? They thought it was great. “All I could taste was the sauce, Mom” said my 7 year old daughter. And my son Paul said “I think that’s pretty cool!”
So the next time you are making pasta sauce, see what other veggies you can add to the mix to make it healthier!!
I had a 1 1/2 cup serving with a little Romano cheese, and it’s about 7-8 points.
The pasta sauce sounds wonderful! And what a great way to use up veggies… It’s amazing how many veggies you can make “disappear” when you puree them! 😉
i love this idea, the sauce is packed with good stuff and i bet tasted divine. thanks!
Great idea!! It looks delicious and I love your kids’ responses ; )
This is a terrific idea – a great way to pack the veggies in and delicious! My daughter would love this as well.
Way to sneak it in!! Sounds great!
That’s a great idea…blog to lose. Good luck, you look like you are on yur way!
I am making this….SOON! I have been like a toddler myself lately and totally not wanting veggies for some reason. This might be a good way to add some back in! Thanks!
Nice idea and love the idea since I know I do not get enough fruits and veggies. Thank god for my multi vitamin.
Brilliant. Another way to get more veggies into my little man. Thanks!
Looks great and I love the blog to lose idea.
Great idea for those extra veggies! And I must say quite clever at the same time 🙂
What a wonderful idea – I am putting this one in my “blog recipes” folder!
GENIUS, Jenn, absolutely genius! If my mom made that for me when I was a kid, I definitely would have eaten up my veggies! Finished them off with a lick, too!
Yum! I’ll have to try this!
Wow! That sounds like a great idea for secretly adding veggies to a dish. I’m going to try this!
Great idea. It so much more healthier. I love making my own sauce. I know what’s inside, so emulsifier, no flavor enhancer. Yours sounds delicious