Overwhelmed with too many veggies in the garden? Try this recipe for enjoying a marinara today… and freeze to enjoy later in the year.
Ingredients:
2 lb. fresh garden tomatoes rough chop – I used yellow pear, cherry, Roma, early girls and heirloom varieties
2 bell peppers, diced
4 clove garlic, minced
1 yellow onion, diced
2 zucchini, cubed
2 yellow crook neck squash, cubed (Note: Use any squash variety)
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon no-salt seasoning
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes (Note: Omit if you don’t like spice)
Alternate ingredient: Add veggie sausage cut into 1/4 inch rounds
1 cup water (Note: You may want to add more water. I prefer a chunkier marinara)
Directions:
On medium high heat, water sauté garlic and onion for 3 minutes. Turn heat down to medium, add veggies, 1 cup water and spices and cook for 15 minutes. Remove bay leaves and use high-powered blender to rough chop 1/2 the marinara mixture. Return blended mixture to pot with bay leaves. Continue cooking for 15 minutes. Serve immediately over your favorite pasta – I used a rice quinoa pasta.
For freezing: Allow mixture to cool on stove top. On one-gallon sized bags, use marker to write down the marinara and date. (Note: Allow ink to dry before moving bags.) Fill bags half way and freeze. Defrost in fridge when ready… it’ll be a little bit of summer in winter later on and a great way to use the garden bounty today!