Mairin's Homemade Marinara Sauce

This is the recipe I've come up with for making a large batch of marinara sauce to freeze. It's a combination of lots of different recipes and what I had in abundance at the end of the summer. I love this sauce because it's packed full of flavor and vegetables. Please feel free to play with the spices, add to/remove anything! I don't add meat to the sauce until I cook with it.

**Disclaimer: this recipe is not exact, by any means! It's meant to be made with leftover garden vegetables at the end of the season--so sizes and amounts may vary!

There's no better smell!

I love that this sauce has so many vegetables in it! It's a great way to use up ALL the zucchini you get throughout the summer! After cooking all of this down with the spices and the tomatoes, you don't taste the zucchini at all! Sneak in those vegetables!

Now, the first batch I ever made, I pureed the tomatoes before adding them, and the sauce was way too watery. My second batch, I just dropped in the tomatoes as chunks, and it worked much better! The tomatoes were actually frozen from the previous summer. One last thing--because of the carrots and the lack of artificial coloring, this sauce isn't going to be super red. Don't let that scare you! ;)

Here's the recipe--

Ingredients (makes about 3-5 quarts)
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 quarts of chopped tomatoes (about 30 garden tomatoes)
1 quart of chopped green peppers (about 15 garden green peppers)
1 quart of chopped white onions  (about 2 medium onions)
2 cups of shredded zucchini (1 or 2 zucchinis)
3 large carrots, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons (or more...) of minced garlic
1 tablespoon of basil
1 tablespoon of oregano
salt and pepper to taste
1 can of tomato paste


Instructions:
1. In a large stock pot, on medium heat, sauté the onions in olive oil until translucent. (about 5 minutes)
2. Add the peppers, carrots, zucchini, and garlic and cook until tender (about 10 minutes)
3. Add the chopped tomatoes and spices and cook down until tomatoes are almost disintegrated (1 hour or so)
4. With an immersion blender, blend the mixture until just smooth--you don't want it too runny

5. Add the tomato paste and cook for as long as you'd like--the longer it cooks, the thicker it will get! I let mine simmer for a couple of hours
6. Remove from heat and let cool
7. Pour sauce into a pitcher, grab a quart sized freezer bag and fold down the top (this keeps the bag upright so you can fill it!)
8. Fill each bag about 3/4 the way full and squeeze all the air out before sealing. Then freeze!
9. To thaw, set under warm water for a couple minutes, and then heat through on the stove!
10. Great for spaghetti, lasagna, meat sauce, even chili!

I just love having homemade anything ready to go in the freezer! Let me know if you try it!

grace & peace
Mairin

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