Ok I think I have gone mad! But I am loving it. After my “hidden” veggie tacos and nachos were such a hit, I decided to make my own pizza and pasta sauce. My youngest absolutely loves his pasta and beef for lunch and the jar sauce I was using was just ok. Do you know how easy it is to make your own sauce? It takes little to no time at all and this “hidden” veggie marinara recipe is so so easy.

I grew up always eating home made sauce. Making my own was all I knew. But then I became a mother and life got so busy I started buying already made sauce at the grocery store.

A couple of years ago, I found this amazing sauce at Dierbergs called Sneaky Chef and it was so delicious and made with so many veggies. For some reason, they stopped carrying it and I have not found anything since. So after some research I realized there was a “sneaky chef” cookbook. So after I “declared” it was going to be hidden veggie taco night, I whipped out the cookbook and would you believe that the author’s “white” puree has caulifower, zucchini and lemon in it. Hers had a few other things and was made differently and in different proportions but I was so excited that I had cracked this code out on my own.

Then I looked up her “hidden” veggie sauce. It’s hard to follow someone else’s recipe for sauce because of my Italian roots, so I improvised and this sauce is so so yummy! My son didn’t even wince at the first bite. There is absolutely no detection of vegetables what so ever. His pasta and beef lunch was perfection!

So this is the part I got from the book. The sauce I was trying to replicate had a list of veggies and ingredients. I wanted to keep it simple so I picked 2 additional vegetables to the ones I knew already worked from my taco night. I chose sweet potato, carrots, cauliflower, zucchini and added the splash of lemon. Instead of making two separate purees, I made one. This recipe is definitely for the busy “sneaky” mom. The less I have to do the better.

I also made the puree on Sunday so I could just use it when I made the sauce this week. This makes it even easier because you don’t have to do it all at once.

Ingredients for puree:

• 1 sweet potato
• 2-3 small carrots
• 3 inches of zucchini grated
• 2-3 tablespoons riced cauliflower
• splash of fresh squeezed lemon (about a tbsp)

To make the puree, cut up the carrots and sweet potato into cubes. Boil them together in a small saucepan until soft. Peel and grate the zucchini and measure the already riced cauliflower. Once the carrots and sweet potato are boiled, add this all to a blender with the splash of lemon to create a smooth puree. It is very important to have no clumps for no detection by the little ones. Use measured amount to make sauce or store in refrigerator for later use.

Ingredients for my “sneaky” sauce:

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1  (6oz) can organic tomato paste
• Fill paste can 3 times with water
• 1  (14oz) can organic tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup vegetable puree (from above)
• 1 tbsp organic cane sugar
• 1/2 tbsp salt
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• sprinkle of black pepper

To make the sauce, sautee the onions, garlic and olive oil in a small/medium sauce pan over low heat. Once golden (with rich aroma), add the rest of the ingredients in the order listed above under “sneaky sauce”. Increase heat and stir well to melt paste into the ingredients to form a sauce. Cook on medium heat for about 20-25 minutes and then let simmer on low for another 20-25 minutes or so. That’s it! So simple.

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I have made this sauce 3 times already since being able to finish this post. I made cheese bread using my gluten free pizza crust recipe and used the sauce for dipping. As you can see, my boys were all into it.

I hope this makes your life just a little easier. Any little tricks I can come up with to make this gluten free, allergy free life just a little healthier for my kids makes me that much happier.

Until next time!