Very Veggie Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

Here is the recipe I made with my 3rd roaster of sauce. I love veggies, always have, always will. 2 years ago, I had lost about 45 pounds< i was in clothes I hadn't worn in forever, got rid of all of my "fat" clothes and felt great. Then I started nursing school. Anyone that has gone through nursing will probably agree that you tend to get a little heavier. I got 40 pounds heavier, definitely not proud of that. Thankfully, since I've graduated, the pounds have been coming off. Even though I'm still studying for boards, I haven't been reaching for the m&m's. 

I actually do like to eat healthy, and since the Manfriend has been giving me produce left and right, I've had to find ways to use it all. This recipe is great for anyone that likes a lot of veggies, or just wants to get veggies into their family without them knowing. Use a food processor, and you can pretty much make anything small enough where it can't be detected. Delicious? Yes. Sneaky? Of course! 

As I've said before, I love garlic. I used 3 bulbs in my roaster and I know that seems like a lot. You definitely don't have to use as much as I did, its really a personal preference. In fact, any of these extra added veggies can be added or subtracted to your liking. Once again, the beauty of cooking is that it can be changed around!

You're going to start off with the Original Homemade Sauce recipe and then just add to it.

Very Veggie Homemade Spaghetti Sauce:

25-28 pounds tomatoes

2 cups sugar

2 cups olive oil or vegetable oil

1/2 cup salt

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon dried basil (or handful of fresh chopped)

3  12 ounce cans tomato paste

4 onions finely chopped

4 green peppers finely chopped
1 cup lemon juice

            Now for the fun

3 bulbs garlic finely chopped

4 sweet banana peppers finely chopped

2 small yellow squash finely chopped

1 zucchini finely chopped

3 carrots finely chopped

8-10 tomatoes peeled and coarsely chopped

2 pounds mushrooms sliced (optional)

Make sure if you use the zucchini and/or yellow squash, you place place them in a strainer after being processed for at least 20 minutes to drain the liquid away. Add everything to the roaster and stir. Simmer at 225 for at least 3 hours. 

This sauce will be chunkier since we are using the extra coarse chopped tomatoes. If you don't like a chunky sauce, you can just leave those out. Just make sure you process all of the extra veggies very fine in the food processor. I cooked this sauce about a half an hour longer than the Original Sauce because of the liquid you get from the yellow squash and zucchini, even though I drained it prior to adding it. If there are other veggies you like, feel free to add them. Now you have a wonderful sauce, that is jam packed with all the nutrients of the veggies. The best thing is, if you have picky eaters, they won't know any different. If I hadn't added the extra garlic, my family wouldn't have known any different!

For canning, do the same things as you would for the original. 

Around the 2.5 hours mark, start getting your canning supplies ready. Boil your canning jars to sterilize them. In a small pan, have your lids in simmering water. I like to place all my jars in the dishwasher and wash them and use the sanitize button to get them ready, just be careful handling the hot jars. 

Fill the jars until you have about an 1/2-inch of head space, wipe off the lip with a wet washcloth, place the lid on and screw the ring on until finger-tight. CAREFULLY place the jars in a canner with boiling water, make sure there is at least an inch of water covering the top of the jar. Process the jars in a full rolling boil for 45 minutes for quarts and 35 minutes with pints.

CAREFULLY remove the jars and place on a cooling rack or a towel. Let them cool overnight, you'll hear the lids popping as they seal. After 12 hours, if there are any that haven't sealed, either reprocess or refrigerate and use immediately.

Label the jars and store them out of sunlight.