A great way to ensure you are getting your veg intake without even noticing. Great for kids or grown ups who are fussy eaters. Follow the basic Stealth veggie tomato sauce recipe and turn your fresh veg into a base for four different meals:-
Minestrone stew
Tomato sauce for your meatballs & spaghetti bolognese
Spicy tomato and lentil soup
Pizza sauce
What you will need:-
In times like this we all need to improvise, it doesn't matter if you are short on a couple of ingredients, just improvise or leave them out (however if you don't have tinned or fresh toms this might not work!)
Ingredients
1 leek - sliced
1 red onion - or 2 regular onions - peeled and diced
3 cloves of garlic - peeled and finely chopped
1 fresh chilil or a teaspoon of dried chilli - finely chopped
3 to 4 carrots - scrubbed and diced (leave the skin on for extra fibre)
3 to 4 sticks of celery - chopped
1 red pepper - diced
1 courgette - diced
3 tins of chopped tomatoes
1 sprig of fresh rosemary or 2 teaspoons - chopped
a bunch of fresh basil or a tablesoon of dried
1 tablespoon of dried oregano
A couple of glugs of olive oil.
Method
Saute onions, celery, carrots, rosemary and garlic in some olive oil until softened and season with salt and a few grinds of black pepper
Add in the chopped chillis, courgette and pepper for a couple more minutes, then add in the 3 tins of tomatoes, fill these three tins with water and pour in.
Part of this batch will make your minestrone soup, you might need to add a little more water depending on how thick you like your soup/sauce. add the oregano, bring to the boil & simmer for 15 minutes.
Split the mixture into half - use half for minestrone soup and blend the other half - splitting the basil between the two.for use another time. Freeze into seperate portions for use at a later date.
For minestrone stew
For wholesome and filling minestrone stew, you will need
1/2 of your stealth veggie tomato sauce (unblended)
1/2 cup of lentils
1 can of cannelini beans or butter beans
2 cups of any combination of spinach, cabbage, spring greens, chard any leafy greens
1/2 cup of broken spaghetti (I use gluten free- your choice) or any other pasta
Method
Add your lentils to the stealth veggie tomato sauce and bring to the boil then simmer.
after ten minutes, add your broken pasta and cannelini beans and stir.
Then place the greens onto the top, place a lid on and allow them all to cook for a further ten minutes or so.
Add extra basil if you like and a couple more glugs of olive oil - serve with parmasean cheese or for more of a meal, my kids favourite - sausages.
For Spicy tomato & lentil soup.
Ingredients
Dried chilli flakes or chilli powder
1 clove of garlic
1/2 teaspoon of cumin seeds
1/2 cup of red lentils
handful of spinach
olive oil
Method
Place a couple of glugs of olive oil into the pan, add the chopped garlic, chilli flakes, cumin seeds and cook for a couple of minutes.
Then add the lentils and stir, then add you portion of tomato sauce and spinach.
Bring to the boil and simmer until the lentils soften.
Blitz it if you prefer a smooth soup, enjoy as it is if you don't.
For spaghetti bolognese sauce - use the blended stealth veggie sauce as you would usually, adding extra fresh basil before serving and a couple of glugs of olive oil - want to make your mince go further? Add a handful of red lentils when you add your meat - the kids never notice and its a great way to get extra fibre.
Sauce for meatballs - use as it is, again add some extra basil and olive oil if you like, maybe throw in a couple of chopeed sun dried tomatoes for extra flavour.