Healthy & Delicious Marinara Sauce

This sauce has a nutritional bonus, by sneaking celery and carrots into this everyday marinara sauce we boost the intake of vitamin A (carrots) and Vitamin K (celery).

It is clever idea to have always jars of marinara in your freezer, you can have chicken Parmesan or lasagna ready in minutes, cutting corners with this ready to use base sauce.

INGREDIENTS

• 12 medium Roma tomatoes or 5 cups jarred diced or strained plum tomatoes (no salt or sugar added)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 medium white onion, diced
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
• 2 celery ribs, diced
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 sprigs fresh oregano, stems removed (about 2 tbsp leaves)
• 8 basil leaves
• 1/8 tsp red chile flakes, optional
• 1 tbsp raw honey
• Sea salt and fresh ground black

DIRECTIONS

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil over high heat. Using a small knife, remove each tomato core and cut a tiny X into the bottom end of each tomato. In a large bowl, prepare an ice bath. Immerse tomatoes into boiling water for 1 to 2 minutes or until skins begins to come off. Remove tomatoes with a slotted spoon and immerse into ice bath for about 1 minute or until cooled.
2. Once cooled, remove tomatoes from ice bath and remove skin by peeling it back from X in the bottom. Slice tomatoes in half, scoop out and discard seeds. Coarsely chop tomatoes and place into a bowl.
3. In a medium sauce-pot, heat oil on medium-high. Add garlic, onion, carrots and celery and sauté until onion becomes translucent and vegetables are softened. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano, basil and chile flakes, if desired, and cook, stirring frequently, until sauce comes to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
4. Remove sauce-pot from heat and carefully purée mixture with a hand blender or in a food processor until smooth. Add honey and season with salt and pepper; mix well.
5. Ladle mixture into resealable containers, let cool to room temperature, cover and refrigerate until needed. Sauce can be kept, refrigerated, for up to 5 days or frozen for up to 2 months.