Low Sodium Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

There are quite a few things that I made on a regular basis. Weekly dinner menus in my house usually consist of a chicken day, a fish day, taco day, and a spaghetti day. I've been trying to make more conscious food choices for my entire family. While reading the ingredients and nutrition facts of a jar of spaghetti the other day, I was gobsmacked to learn that every single jar of sauce contained approximately 350-400mg of sodium PER SERVING!!! This is extreme considering the recommended sodium intake for the average person is somewhere on the lines of 1500mg daily. For some people the sodium in one serving of sauce is acceptable. However, a jar of sauce contains about seven servings and most people don't have just one serving of sauce with their noodles. With a single meal, you could easily consume the entire recommended daily allowance of sodium! For people with high blood pressure (like myself) that extra sodium isn't only unnecessary, but extremely unhealthy.

I left the store feeling hopeful though. I've made several food items from scratch and jumped on the chance to make my own spaghetti sauce. Within the hour, I had made a sauce that was sweet, tangy, and had just enough kick of spice that I will only make my own spaghetti sauce from now on. And the best part of it was the entire pot of sauce contained 200mg of sodium, and it was from the store-bought tomato paste! I added ground beef to my sauce, but you can add whatever else you want to the base sauce. Next time I plan on making a mushroom marinara instead of beef.

This is what you'll need for the spaghetti sauce:

6 medium tomatoes

1 medium onion

1 head of garlic (about 5-6 cloves)

1 large bell pepper

1 10-ounce can tomato paste

To taste:

Basil

Oregano

Thyme

Pepper 

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil. In that boiling water, add the tomatoes. Boil tomatoes for one minute. The skin should start puckering and peeling off. Transfer tomatoes to a pot of cold water and peel the tomato skins off in the pot of cold water. Quarter the peeled tomatoes and transfer into an empty pot.

2. In the pot of quartered tomatoes, add the remaining vegetable (all chopped into small pieces), garlic (peeled and chopped as well), and the herbs. Put the stove burner on medium low and allow tomatoes and vegetables to stew for half an hour. Be sure to check the vegetables periodically so that they don't burn to the bottom of the pot.

3. Once tomatoes are mushy and there is lots of liquid in the pot (about 30 minutes), take a a potato masher and mash the remaining large tomatoes up into much smaller pieces. It will literally look as if you are making a stew.

4. Once the tomatoes and vegetables are mashed up, add the tomato paste. Mix all together and season additionally if needed. 

5. Allow spaghetti sauce to summer on low for at least another 15 minutes, taking time to stir frequently.

Once the tomato paste is mixed in, you can add in pre-cooked beef or raw mushrooms. Thicker veggies can be added in with the other veggies before you start stewing them. 

We put our sauce over a bed of blue and green noodles (Chloe's idea!) and served them with salad and garlic bread. This was the first time ever that I didn't feel guilty about spaghetti night at my house! I knew that it was healthy and hearty. The sauce got rave reviews in my house last night. Even our German Shepard, Ascha, liked it! 

I hope you give the sauce a try. It's extremely easy to make and you could put it over anything. I'm thinking about making a baked eggplant Parmesan with my sauce next time.

Happy Friday, everyone! I've worked out every day for the last 12 days. I'm taking a much-deserved day off from the gym, but will be back at it tomorrow! Have a wonderful weekend and I hope to hear your comments on the sauce!

A Healthier Roasted Chicken with Vegetables

About 8 months ago I posted a recipe for roasted chicken with vegetables. I remember eating it. It was absolutely delicious! Looking back, I see that I could have made this recipe a lot healthier for my family and for myself. I used a bit of butter (not criminal, but I could have opted for a healthier oil) and I used salt as well (I have high blood pressure, so keeping a low-sodium diet is a must now).

Last night, I roasted chicken again with some vegetables. I made healthier choices by choosing skinless chicken, no salt, and olive oil instead of butter. The results were incredible. It was still moist and juicy and using seasonal vegetables gave the meal an entirely different flavor, so it wasn't like the other roasted vegetables from November.

This is what you'll need for my healthier roasted chicken with vegetables:

Yields 4 servings
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 55 minutes

8 boneless skinless chicken thighs (or breasts if you want to save about 50 calories per serving)
2 ears of corn, shucked and peeled
1 large bell pepper
2 C green beans, uncooked
8 large mushrooms
1 zucchini
1/3 eggplant
1 small sweet onion
2 medium tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
1/4 C olive oil, halved

To taste (use half with chicken and half with veggies):
Chopped sage (usually about one handful)
Rosemary (about 2 sprigs pulled from the stem)
Oregano (about a palm full)
Celery Seed (about 4 tablespoons)
Pepper


1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. While oven is preheating, slice bell pepper, mushrooms, zucchini, eggplant, and onion. Chop garlic up finely as well. Slice the tomatoes, but save them for later.

2. In a roasting pan (or glass pan that you can cover in aluminum foil), place the chicken on the bottom center and season with herbs to taste, then drizzle half of the olive oil on top of the chicken.

3. Place the shucked corn at either side of the chicken and cover the corn and chicken with the sliced veggies, garlic, herbs, and the rest of the olive oil.

4. Cover roasting pan with a lid (or glass pan with aluminum foil) and roast in the oven for 45 minutes.

5. At the end of the roasting time, remove the the lid (or foil) and place the sliced tomatoes on the top. Keep the lid off and place the pan back in the oven for another ten minutes.

Once everything was completed, I cut each ear of corn in half and divvied it up on the plates. Because we are a family of three and Chloe and I eat half portions, we have plenty of leftovers for lunch this week!

I hope that you try this tonight. The chicken was juicy, the eggplant and zucchini tasted just like summertime, and the overall experience of preparing this meal (and eating it) was wonderful!