Tomato Sauce

This tomato sauce recipe is so simple and delicious. The small amount of mixed herbs gives it a lovely 'Italian' taste. It's goes great with pasta for a quick lunch and can be easily refrigerated and frozen.

Initially, I was conscious of the sugar and sodium content when I made it as tomatoes are naturally sweet, with 3g sugars per 125g serving. I only added in a little honey as one tablespoon has 16g sugars. As I made a big batch using two large cans of tomatoes (800g each), the sugars got divided into six (for each cup).

Cans of diced tomatoes can have 200-300mg sodium per serving unless you buy the no added salt variety, which then takes the sodium count down to 10-20mg. It's a very dramatic amount and will add to the overall nutritional value of a dish when using the sauce in another recipe, for example Lentil Loaf (which also includes soy sauce).

On this occasion I didn't use no added salt tomatoes as the supermarket didn't sell large cans with the option of less sodium. It was a trade off between saving money by buying larger cans and compromising on my health by accepting the higher sodium count. 

In the future, I may use no added salt tomatoes and half the honey just to compare the nutritional information as well as the taste. It may not be as good as sugar and sodium both are used to enhance flavour and taste. However, I'm not a big fan of salty foods and will be interested to see if I notice the difference in sugar reduction.

Tomato Sauce

Makes 6 cups

Ingredients:

- 225g / 8oz onions, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed

- 30ml / 2tbsp olive oil

- 1600g / 3.6lb (57oz) diced tomatoes
- 40g / 2tbsp honey
- 1tsp mixed dried herbs

Method:

In a large saucepan, heat the oil and cook the onion and garlic until clear.
Add the tomatoes, honey and mixed herbs.

Boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
Blend the ingredients together using a hand-held blender or food processor to form a smooth sauce.
ENJOY!

Nutritional Information: