Homemade Marinara Sauce with Roasted Veggies.

 I'm always finding ways to add veggies to most everything I can. I add finely grated zucchini and carrots to tuna fish salad. Even muffins and brownies. (My children like it!) I even added finely grated red cabbage to the guacamole today which was very good btw! I puree veggies and add it to homemade gravies and cheese sauces like Chicken Pot Pie's sauce and Macaroni and Cheese's sauce. I puree veggies for soups too.  It's definitely no surprise that I add pureed veggies to Marinara sauce as well. But I recently was inspired by a friend who roasts her veggies for her Marinara sauce. This batch below makes a good amount. It's so good just made into a Tomato Soup or used as a dipping sauce for Bread Sticks. It's great for making Pizzas, Calzones, Lasagnas, Chili Sauces and you name it. It's a great sauce over pasta with a little cream added to it or even cream cheese. I wish I took a picture of the lasagna I used some of this sauce for! The rest is in the freezer. So healthy and so yummy. In the past I would just add some veggies to the pot of tomatoes that was simmering. Also delicious.

In olive oil, sautée: 3 large onions, chopped and one whole garlic bud (12 cloves), peeled and pressed with side of blade. 

Add 12-15 coarsely chopped tomatoes into onion and garlic mixture. Add 3 tsp salt and 1 tsp dried basil. Simmer for 45 minutes. 

While simmering the tomatoes etc., grill veggies in oven at 400F for 40 minutes. Anything goes but used 1 eggplant, 1 zucchini, 1red bell pepper, 1yellow bell pepper, 1green bell pepper, 1 carrot. Spray cookie sheet with olive oil and spray oil on top of veggies as well. Lightly salt. 

This is what it looks like after simmering for 45 minutes on low after it comes to a boil. 

Puree everything. And tadah!

For a "ricotta" filling to use in a lasagna: 2 blocks cream cheese, 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, 1/3 cup milk or more, garlic salt. Mix with hand mixer until easy to spread on lasagna noodles! Add more milk if needed. Add 1 cup of chopped spinach to cheese mixture and mix in.