Marinara Sauce

My daughter-in-law, Sana, mentioned the other day that she was craving a red sauce so she pulled out my trim&TERRIFIC Diabetic Cooking cookbook and made the Marinara Sauce. She served it over angel hair pasta and said it was the best marinara sauce she had ever had! She keeps telling me that Diabetic Cooking is her favorite cookbook as it has mainstream ingredients – easy to use even in her New York apartment. This Marinara Sauce is so easy and delicious – nothing beats homemade marinara and it’s so versatile! Serve over pasta or add eggplant or ground meat.

Marinara Sauce from Holly Clegg’s trim&TERRIFIC Diabetic Cooking Cookbook

Jars of marinara sauce stock the grocery shelves, however, nothing beats a rich robust homemade marinara sauce.  This quick to make recipe is as easy as opening up cans and adding Italian seasonings.  Try cutting up some zucchini or eggplant in the sauce.  Serve over pasta.

Makes 12 1/2-cup servings

1 onion, chopped

1/2 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup finely chopped carrots

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes

1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce

1/3 cup tomato paste

1/2 cup water, chicken or vegetable broth

1 tablespoon dried oregano leaves

1 teaspoon dried basil leaves

1 bay leaf

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Pinch sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

1. In large nonstick skillet coated with nonstick cooking spray, sauté onion, celery, carrots, and garlic over medium heat 5 minutes.  Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, water, oregano, basil, bay leaf parsley, sugar and salt and pepper.

2. Bring to boil, reduce heat, continue cooking 15 minutes longer.  Add more broth if mixture gets too thick.  Remove bay leaf before serving.

Terrific Tidbit:  This freezes well in individual freezable plastic containers, so you can pull it out and defrost as needed.

Nutritional information per serving:

Calories 46, Calories from fat (%) 0, Fat (g) 2, Saturated Fat (g) 0, Cholesterol (mg) 0, Sodium (mg) 335, Carbohydrate (g) 9, Dietary Fiber (g) 2, Sugars (g) 5, Protein (g) 2, Diabetic Exchanges: 1/2 carbohydrate

Marinara Sauce-Easy and Diabetic Friendly