Bring on the pasta sauce!

Tomato sauce and lycopene

Tomatoes are a great source of lycopene, a phytochemical packed with age-fighting antioxidants (among other things). The only problem with consuming enough lycopene to make an impact is that you would have to eat five pounds of fresh tomatoes daily. Whoa! Holy fiber overload, Batman!

To avoid colon distress and still reap the benefits of lycopene, eat tomato sauce instead. Lycopene is more concentrated and potent in cooked tomato sauce, and all you need are about 12 tablespoons per week, or about the amount I would pour over my organic, gluten-free pasta!

Here’s a recipe I found and not only do you get the lycopene, you get all the additional nutrients from the other ingredients. Try it sometime and let me know what you think.

Nona’s Marinara Sauce Ingredients

• 5 cloves of garlic
• Coarse salt
• Ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (separate quantities) of extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
• 1 cup of fresh basil leaves
• 2 tablespoons of oregano leaves
• 1 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes

Nona’s Marinara Sauce Procedure

• Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Gather 5 cloves of garlic and place them in a square of foil.
• Sprinkle the cloves with salt and pepper.
• Drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil over the cloves.
• Wrap up the foil and place it directly on the oven rack. Make sure that the foil is secure so no oil can leak out.
• Roast the garlic until it’s brown and tender — about 25 minutes.
• Let cool long enough to touch and squeeze the garlic from the skins and set it aside.
• Sauté the onions with the remaining oil in a medium saucepan.
• Add the tomato paste and stir well — this will cook off the tomato paste and give a nice orange color.
• Cook for about 10 minutes.
• Add the roasted garlic, salt pepper, basil, oregano and stir together.
• Pour in the crushed tomatoes.
• Fill the empty can with water and add it to the pan.
• Bring to a boil then lower the heat to simmer.
• Simmer for 1 hour uncovered.
• Stir occasionally.
• Once the sauce is ready carefully pour it into a food processor and puree until smooth.
• Serve and enjoy!

Sounds pretty good to me. Remember to use organic ingredients — the fresher the better. You can buy Muir Glen brand organic tomatoes. They don’t have BPA in their cans and the food is certified organic. Basil and oregano leaves can be found fresh in the produce section. Again, look for organic and pesticide free. Whole Food’s brand for dry herbs is a good bet, too. The salt we use is from a company called Redmond and the product is real salt (it’s a sea salt: pink or beige in color).

All right, go forth and make marinara!

peace and love,
Chuck