A few recipes

My mom, sister, and I all tried our hand at gardening this year. It is safe to say that Mom had the most success (which means she is the only one who had success!) Her beans, cucumbers, and tomatoes have been fabulous, and the green pepper plant is making a comeback. (Erin abandoned her garden and I am still waiting to see if my pumpkin vine produces anything)

That said, I have had a few tomatoes on my hands lately. Only my baby will eat raw tomatoes, so I figured I better make something of them, and fast! My decision: to make tomato sauce. We eat it all the time and I had everything on hand to make it, so away we went. I attempted to keep it simple and also sneak some extra veggies in there for the kids.

Here is what you need:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (or olive oil, if you're fancy)
3 medium-sized tomatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
1/4 of a red onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
12 baby carrots OR 1 regular carrot, grated
1/2 zucchini, grated
basil, sugar, and salt; to taste

Heat oil over medium heat. Add onions and garlic; saute until soft. Add carrots and zucchini, continue to cook until soft, about 3-4 minutes. Add the tomatoes, continue to cook, pressing tomatoes with the back of a spoon/spatula. They will get soft and smooshy. Add basil, salt, and sugar to taste. Yield: 1.5-2 cups of sauce.

A few notes: If it is too thick, thin it with some water or chicken broth. If you like your sauce smoothie-smooth, put it in the blender and give it a whirl. I have 2 jars of this waiting for me in the freezer.


Now, to accompany your delicious sauce, some meatballs!

10 oz ground turkey (I had 99% lean)
6 baby carrots, grated
1 tablespoon minced onion
1 cloved minced garlic
1 egg
3 Ritz crackers, crushed

Mix ingredients above. Form into mini meatballs, slightly smaller than a ping-pong ball. I used my Pampered Chef scoop to make a uniform little army of meat. Heat some oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the meat, then brown on each side. Heat some sauce in a pot; add the meatballs to finish cooking in the sauce. Serve over pasta or in a hot dog bun as a "sub"

Notes: I got 18 little meatballs out of this. It would obviously work with any meat in any amount--just make the standard meatball/loaf mix of meat/onion/egg/cracker. We ate these as subs, since it is always more likely that we will have whole-grain breads but not whole-grain pasta. Three little meatballs fit perfectly on a hot dog bun.

Happy cooking, folks!