Wednesday 8 January 2014

High Protein & Oil Free Tomato Sauce

Happy 2014 to all!!! This is an exciting time to start fresh and reevaluate our priorities, as we head into another year of our lives. Of course we have all made some resolutions, big or small, realistic and maybe not so realistic.

My personal resolutions have actually been the opposite of a lot of people's. I am NOT going to weigh myself or count calories any longer. I want to get to a point where I can just listen to my body. I eat whole and plant based foods, a lot of raw veggies (including a shit ton of leafy greens), so whatever size my body decides to be is gonna have to be okay. I am trying to lose some weight that I've gained, and truth be told it has been a huge mental battle, but with this strategy I think I'll win it. My "strategy" is to continue living a fit and active life, eat plenty of whole foods and drink tons of water. I do want to moderate desserts and definitely drinking alcohol. I know it sounds like a mixed message - to sum it up, I don't wanna care about my weight obsessively, but I'm hoping some comes off in this process. I'll keep you posted.

ANYWAY, to the recipe. I plan on making a lovely roasted vegetable lasagna from scratch this week, and I knew I had to bulk it up with some protein. I decided to add some fibre and protein by adding red lentils into my homemade sauce. The result was incredible. I licked my spoon with delight!


High Protein and Oil Free Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:

-3/4 dry red lentils, rinsed
-1 796ml can crushed tomatoes (go for organic!)
-1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes
-1 tbsp raw honey or agave
-1 tsp each parsley, rosemary and oregano
-1/2 tsp each thyme and paprika
-Handful of fresh basil leaves
-2-3 cloves roasted garlic*

*For an awesome tutorial on how to roast garlic, click here

1. In a medium pot, bring lentils and 1 1/2 cups of water to a boil, then reduce to a simmer on medium heat. Keep simmering uncovered for about 15-20 minutes, or until lentils are cooked. They will get mushy, and this is the idea!

2. While the lentils cook, soak the sun dried tomatoes in some water. 

3. When the lentils are done. transfer them to a blender and allow to cool for a couple minutes. 

4. Drain your sun dried tomatoes of water, and add them to the blender. Add in all the remaining ingredients and process until smooth. 

Enjoy over pasta, on a pizza, or off the spoon!

This will make a very thick sauce. When you wanna thin it out, just add a little water! 

Also note I did not add salt. I realized I (unintentionally) bought a can of tomatoes with salt added. If yours are salt free, you can add a little salt to taste.

Happy eating! I'll be making a delish kamut lasagna with this sauce, along with tofu ricotta and lots of roasted veggies. Stay tuned.

xo
Tij




2 comments:

  1. Mmm lentils in pasta sauce! Great idea =) And for those who want the texture that ground meat does in sauce, they could leave the lentils as they are

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    1. Yes, absolutely, Lisa! Thanks for stopping by the blog. :)

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