I have a fussy eater niece. I mean VERY fussy. I made a it my personnel mission to get some vegetables in her. Scouring my refrigerator for every veggie I had, I made a sauce for pizza, her favorite food.
This worked like a CHARM! My fussy eater niece had three slices and wanted more. Little did she know she was eating zucchini, broccoli AND spinach! ;~)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- A thick slice of sweet onion diced
- 3-4 cloves of garlic sliced
- 1 small-medium head of broccoli cleaned and chopped
- 1 small to medium zucchini diced small
- A handful of baby carrots (I used about 10) sliced thin
- 2 cups of baby spinach chopped
- 2 small cans of tomato paste
- About 1 tsp garlic powder
- About 1 tsp dried oregano
- About 1 tsp dried basil
- About 1 tsp onion powder
- Salt and Pepper
- Red food coloring (optional if the color is off)
In a large pot over medium heat add the olive, onion and garlic. Let it sweat while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. Add the broccoli, zucchini, carrots and spinach. Stir and cook for a few minutes.
Add 1 can of the tomato paste with about 3 cans of water. Stir.
Add the spices and stir.
Bring to a boil (just a few bubbles) then lower to a simmer. I simmered for at least an hour occasional stirring.
After the simmer, add the sauce with veggies to the blender (you may have to do it in multiple batches) or use a hand blender. Put the sauce back into pot and add the remaining can of paste. It will bring the color back to a nicer shade of red.
The sauce will be super thick, perfect for pizza! Let simmer on low heat until you are ready to use. If you do not think it will fool them, add a drop or two of red food coloring.
Freeze leftovers in freezer bags so you can pull out just enough for pizza on demand. Or try it on pasta, it has a ton of flavor.
For the pizza pictured, I used trader Joes’ Whole Wheat pizza dough and about 4-5 oz mozzarella cheese.
Nutritional information is tough on this one. I'm estimating the sauce recipe to end up at about 4 cups and a serving size to be ½ cup. That's 8 servings in the recipe. So for each ½ cup I'm getting about 80 cals, 2 g of fat and 3 g of fiber. Next time I make it, I will take measurements that are more specific and add a nutritional information table.
Funny you should ask... 😉 https://greenlitebites.com/2008/03/11/thin-crust-whole-wheat-pizza-dough/
I can't wait to try this sauce...I was wanting to know if you had a good healthy dough recipe??? Your are like a queen in the kitchen! And you are such a GREAT mom...people should take lesson from you!
This looks so good and sounds perfect for me....I'm a super picky eater...I love your recipes...I would love to see this as a video!!!!
I tried this recipe over the weekend for our family pizza nite. While everyone ate it, DS didn't seem to care for it and didn't each much. DD, DH and I all thought it was really good. Nobody had an idea what was actually in the sauce. I did end up adding a 3rd can of tomato paste, lots more spices including red pepper flakes and a little bit of sugar to help cut the acidity of the tomatoes. I paired it up with a honey wheat crust that was super easy and delicious. Thanks for a great recipe that I can make and feel good about feeding my family pizza!
Hi Marsha! Frozen veggies would totally work in this recipe. I'd start with a 1/2 cup of each frozen zucchini and spinach since they tend to be more concentrated. If the flavors don't take over the sauce then you can always add more.
Hope that helps!
-Roni
I am hoping to make this for dinner tomorrow nite. However, I am having a hard time finding fresh zuchini right now. I have some thinly sliced and frozen still in the freezer from last year. Will that work in this recipe? Any idea how much "1 zuchini" measures out to? Also wondering if you can use frozen spinach instead of fresh. Thanks
I made this sauce yesterday and it turned out very good. Thanks Roni! I used carrots, spinach and cauliflower.
This is one of my FAVORITE "Roni recipes" (it's how I have them saved) - I use it all the time 🙂 LOVE it!
I found your website last week, and I LOVE it!! I tried this today and it is FANTASTIC! I am waiting for it to cool right now so I can freeze it. I am using some tonight on a pizza I am making.I am so happy to have found your site! You belong on the Food Network or something! Keep up the great work Roni!!
Sure! I don't see why not. Give it a try and let us know how it works out!
-Roni
It may be a stupid question, but can you use a food processor instead of a blender for this? I just got a food processor as a gift yesterday and want to try it out.
Hi Katy!
I actually used 2 - 6 oz cans of the paste. Man! it's been forever since I made this.
It is hard to measure though. The veggies add so much bulk!
So glad you liked it ad thanks for spreading the word!
Roni, I made this last night for my fiance who loves pizza, he has not tried it yet but I did and I loved it. I posted on WW's recipe review message board with links to your blogs. I hope more people discover your recipes!
I used 14.5 ounce cans of paste, was that what you used? It made about 2quarts of sauce (I think, not sure if its a 2 or 3 quart sauce pan)
Here is the link to my post.
http://tinyurl.com/2oh54r
Thanks!~
Katy
I haven't but I know others who have.
Next time I make it I was going to give it a try.
I was wondering if you have used your immersion blender to make the sauce?
I made your pizza sauce last night, and it was delicious! Although I don't have to trick myself or my boyfriend into eating vegetables, he was shocked and excited to see how all those veggies turned into a great pizza sauce! Thanks for the recipe, I'll be trying the sauce on top of a tortilla, on top of spaghetti squash, noodles.... the list goes on!
This is definitely toddler approved. My 2-1/2 year old is so darned picky, but of course loves pizza. I made the sauce over the weekend and put it on a store bought crust and she gobbled it up! Thank you so much. I can't get her to eat any vegetables, so at least I snuck a few in.