Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons olive oil or coconut oil

1 onion, minced

4 garlic, minced

1 Tablespoon basil, dried

2 teaspoons oregano, dried

4 Tablespoons tomato paste

2 cans (24 oz) tomatoes (any kind: crushed, whole, strained, etc)

salt and fresh ground pepper

Heat the oil in a large pot. Add the onion, reduce the temperature to medium and saute the onion for about 10 minutes or until they are golden.

Add the garlic, basil and oregano. Stir well, and cook a little, 30 seconds.

Add the tomato paste, stir well and cook the paste until it turns a darker red, about 1 minute. Take care not to burn it.

Add the tomatoes, bring to boil, reduce to simmer, cover and cook on low for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Add salt and pepper to taste. If you need to add a little sweetener to the sauce in case the tomatoes are not sweet enough, add some sugar or maple syrup. About 1-3 t should do it, but don’t make it too sweet.

Variation:

Creamy Tomato Sauce: Add a cup of strained (using a nut milk strainer) cashew milk (1/2 c of cashews blended with 1 c water) to the sauce after the sauce is done cooking. Heat to simmer, but do not boil. Adjust seasonings using salt, pepper and/or sugar. The nut milk will also thicken the sauce a bit.