Super Quick and Easy Veggie Loaded Pasta Sauce for Picky Kids

Your picky kids will (hopefully) love this pasta sauce…

I say ‘hopefully’ because I know what it’s like to have picky kids. There are so many wonderful recipes out there but our kids are NOT into trying new foods. But it is definitely a goal for this year. In fact it’s the next task on the reward chart. My husband has managed, by some miracle, to create a pasta sauce that even Oscar will eat. Oscar is vegephobic so we’re thrilled! It takes a bit of time to prepare, but you can easily portion and freeze the sauce.

Ingredients

• 2 Sticks of celery and leaves, cut into chunks
• 1 Large deseeded red or yellow pepper, cut into chunks
• 1 Large red onion, cut into chunks
• 2 Medium carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
• 2 Cloves of garlic, peeled
• 4 Tablespoons of good quality extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 Teaspoon of brown sugar
• Salt and pepper
• 3 Tins of chopped or whole tomatoes

Method

• Blend all the vegetables until smooth. I didn’t take a picture because it looks like baby food, or something worse.
• Heat up 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large frying pan.
• Once spitting hot, add the blended vegetables and fry.
• Turn down the heat to a good simmer. You want the veg to fry and not boil.
• Add the dried oregano, salt and pepper to taste. You are going to season again, so don’t add too much salt and pepper.
• Let the mixture cook until it’s nice and aromatic. It can even catch a bit on the bottom for extra flavour.
• You can cook the veg for about 15 to 20 minutes, stirring regularly. This is the secret to taking away the taste of vegetables.
• Once it’s catching a bit, add the last tablespoon of olive oil for one last fry and flavour burst.
• Add the 3 tins of tomatoes and simmer.
• Add the sugar and season again with salt and pepper.
• Mash the tomatoes if your child doesn’t like lumps, like ours.
• Cover it and cook on medium heat for about an hour. Stir occasionally.

Serving

• Spoon over a pasta your kids like. We use a gluten free pulse pasta, which is delicious.
• Add grated cheese if desired.
• And let your child enjoy the vegetable-laden pasta sauce.

Do you have any recipes for sneaking vegetables into your children’s diets?