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Rainbow Veg Sauce

Claire Wright

Effort:
Complexity:
Cost:

Serves: 8

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

olive oil

1 onion, finely diced

2 carrots, finely diced

2 sticks of celery or 1/2 fennel bulb, finely diced

1 sweet potato, finely diced (optional)

1 courgette, finely diced

500g passata + 500ml water or stock (or use 700g of roughly chopped ripe tomatoes and only 250ml water or stock)

1 tbsp mixed dried herbs or dried oregano

salt & pepper

Veg Portions / Serving: 2

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Recipe created for Veg Power by Claire Wright. Food photography by Claire Wright | raisingsugarfreekids.com

Claire Wright from addsomeveg.com shares 3 simple ways to prepare tomatoes that the whole family will enjoy.

This is next-level pasta sauce: healthy, tasty, cheap and packed with plenty of veg.

Method:

Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a large saucepan over low-medium heat and gently fry the onion, carrot, celery or fennel, sweet potato and courgette (all chopped as small as you can) for about 10 mins, or until veg is softened and just slightly golden.

Pour over the passata and water or stock (or tomatoes and water or stock) and herbs, stir until mixed well and bring to the boil. Turn the heat back down and let the sauce simmer for about 15-20 mins, until it is thickened and the veg is soft.

Blitz with a hand-held blender or in a food processor. You can serve straightaway over cooked pasta, or use it in any recipe that calls for tomato sauce or tinned tomatoes or passata. Alternatively, you can allow it to cool completely and then freeze in portions in freezer-safe containers of bags for up to 6 months and just defrost when ready to use.

 

Made a big batch to fill the freezer with and wondering how to use it? Check out our top tips on 7 ways to use it here.

Engaging Kids

Engaging Kids

Kids who engage regularly with veg through veg-themed activities, such as arts and crafts, sensory experiences, growing and cooking are shown to be more likely to eat the veg they engage with. Encouraging kids to engage and play with veg is the handy first step to them developing a good relationship with veg and life-long healthy eating.

Kids in the kitchen

Kids in the kitchen

Get the kids to add the veg to the pan carefully, then show them how to stir the veg carefully while it cooks without touching the hot pan. Have them blitz the sauce (ideally when cooled, but carefully with supervision if it’s still hot) until smooth. Let them choose what to serve it with: pasta, in a lasagne, with meatballs, in a casserole…

Activities

Activities

While getting kids to interact with veggies for real and using their senses to explore them is best, encouraging hands off activities like arts & crafts, puzzles & games or at-home science experiments can be a great start, particularly for those who are fussier eaters or struggle with anything too sensory. Use these veg-themed activities as a stepping stone to interacting with the veg themselves. We have loads of crafty downloads here, puzzles here, and quirky science with veg here.

Sensory

Sensory

Once you feel your child is ready to engage a little more, you can show them how to explore the veg you have on hand with their senses, coming up with playful silly descriptions of how a veg smells, feels, looks, sounds and perhaps even tastes. Find ideas, videos and some simple sensory education session ideas to get you started here.

Serving

Serving

The moments before food is offered can be a perfect opportunity for engagement that can help make it more likely a child will eat it! Giving children a sense of ownership in the meal can make a big difference to their feelings going into it and the pride they take in it. You know your child best, but if you aren’t sure where to start, we have some fun and simple ideas for easy roles you can give them in the serving process over here.

Claire Wright

Editor: After leaving Exeter University with a degree in English Literature, Claire worked in various fields ranging from youth work and charities to publishing, before starting up a food-focused website when her first child was born. After being asked to project manage the publication of Veg Power's Crowdfunder book, Claire came on board as a fully-fledged team member in 2018 to take on the role of Communications Manager, then Editor, looking after Veg Power's website, content, recipes and social media platforms.

addsomeveg.com/

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