Spread Your Nickel with Homemade Marinara!

There's nothing better than fresh, homemade and HEALTHY marinara sauce to warm up a variety of meals! Throw it in with your favorite whole wheat pasta, veggie or chicken parmesan, pizza or lasagna recipes- OR- freeze it away in portioned size zip top bags for easy access! There are some good bottled sauces on the shelves these days, but you don't really know what is IN them. I've made my own sauce before, but not as frequently as I'd like because the cans of sauce and fresh tomatoes get to be a little pricey.
I've been prepping some easy "freezer to oven" meals for my expecting Sister-in-law and her hubby, and figured marinara would be a perfect option. But how to make A LOT of it and keep it inexpensive???

I hit up my local Costco warehouse and found some large & in-charge cans of Crushed Tomatoes, perfect for a marinara base. 105 ounces (over 13 cups) for around $2.50!! The brand had some recipe suggestions on the can, but to keep costs down I decided to just use what I had already at home.

Ingredients & Recipe:
Printable Recipe

• 1 onion (finely chopped)(preferably white or Spanish, but whatever you have at home will work)
• 2-3 shredded carrots
• 3 garlic cloves (minced)
• olive oil
• 1 (105 oz.) can of crushed tomatoes
• dried herbs, such as basil and/or oregano

Heat 2-3 Tbls. olive oil in a large pot or pan over medium heat. Toss in chopped onion, carrots, garlic, season with some S&P and cook for 7-9 minutes or until tender. Now be creative by adding in whatever herbs you like. I added in 1 tsp dried oregano and 1-2 tsp dried basil. Next, pour in crushed tomatoes to your veggie/herb mix, stir around, and bring sauce to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer uncovered for 45 minutes (stirring once in a while) so that all the flavors marry together!
Give it a taste and use your own judgement. I added a few tablespoons of sugar to taste. Use right away or cool & freeze away in individual zip top bags for a rainy day!

You could also try:

• Tossing in whatever extra veggies you have in the fridge, like adding a few ribs of chopped celery or chopped fresh tomatoes while the veggies are cooking.
• 1 tsp of crushed red pepper flakes for a kick
• Make it a meat sauce by adding in a pound of browned ground turkey or beef (say that 3 times fast!)
• Make the sauce a bit creamier by mixing in 1/2 cup of milk or heavy cream at the end before you serve!