Cheers to the weekend, it’s Feed Your Body Friday!

The other day, I came back from running and I was very hungry. I knew I had a jar of tomato sauce in the fridge - the only thing I didn’t know was how long it had been there!

Upon analyzing the jar, I found it a little strange that my jar of sauce that had been open for a while still looked and smelled exactly the same as when it was freshly opened. So I decided to throw it out and concoct a nice, simple, homemade tomato sauce instead.

Guess what? Making your own tomato sauce is really easy, quick, and obviously so much tastier (not to mention healthier)!

If you can, use those summer-fresh garden tomatoes in your sauce. However, as I was in a hurry to eat, I went with canned crushed tomatoes. But, instead of adding sugar to my recipe and to reduce acidity, I decided to opt for other ingredients that would play this role, like grilled red peppers and caramelized onions.

In addition, I had some cabbage in my fridge that needed to be used, so I took the opportunity to add it in the recipe since it does not affect the flavour and it’s a great way to work in more vegetables. Did you know that cruciferous vegetables (like cabbage) are very rich in antioxidant compounds, fibre, vitamins A and C, folic acid, iron and calcium? It’s worthwhile to make a place for these veggies in your grocery bag.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Servings: ~8

Ingredients:

• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 2 red peppers, cut in half and seeded
• 2 cup cabbage, chopped
• 2 jalapeno peppers
• 1 can crushed tomatoes (without added salt)
• 1 tbsp. tomato paste (without added salt)
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2. Over low heat, sweat the onions, cabbage, and jalapenos in the olive oil, stirring a few times. Cook for 10 minutes until the onion is transparent. Reserve.
3. Meanwhile, put the peppers (skin side up) on a tinfoil baking sheet on the top oven rack for about 20 minutes, or until the skin starts to brown. Remove from the oven and reserve.
4. Peel the red peppers (the skin should lift itself) and cut into thick pieces.
5. Place the red pepper, onions, cabbage, and jalapeno mixture, garlic, crushed tomatoes, and tomato paste in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse to coarsely puree; it’s better if you can still feel the texture of the vegetables.
6. Pour the sauce into the frying pan used to cook the onions and heat over low heat until the temperature suits you.
7. Add the parsley in the sauce and mix well.
8. Serve on your favourite pasta with freshly grated parmesan cheese

The recipe that I propose today doesn’t take much more effort than using premade sauce that you bought at the grocery store, taking into account that it takes about 8 minutes of cooking for the pasta and before that it’s necessary to wait for the water to mud. We can take advantage of this time to prepare the rest in order to have a balanced, nourishing, and fabulous meal in less than 35 minutes!

It’s a great weeknight meal or even to invite friends over because everyone loves pasta! Plus, you can always double, or even triple the quantities in this recipe make and keep frozen, so you’ll always have some on hand!