About six months ago I started educating myself about the “stuff” that is in processed foods.  Mainly, high fructose corn syrup.  I am not going to get into why it is bad for you. What I will say that with hypothyroidism, it is best to stay away from it as much as you can.  I can’t say I have cut it out of my diet 100%, but I have started making more food from scratch to limit the amount we consume.

 When I started checking food labels in the grocery store, I was surprised to find that a lot of foods have it listed as one of the first five ingredients.  I was really surprised when I picked up my favorite pasta sauce and it was the first ingredient!  Since then, I have searched for a great tasting, easy marinara to make.  I have an awesome sausage sauce, but that is time-consuming so I usually make a giant batch around Christmas and freeze it.  I really needed a quick, easy marinara sauce to have in my recipe binder.

I found a recipe here that looked good.  And I had everything I needed on hand – Yay!!!  I have seen a lot of marinara’s that have wine in it.  Not sure if I want to go that route yet.  The simpler, the better to me!

I got out my saucepan and heated up my olive oil.  Then  I added the garlic (I use Spice World Squeezable Minced Garlic).  I cooked until golden.  Then I added my crushed tomatoes, oregano, salt, pepper,bay leaf, and a dash of sugar (I was always told to add one so I did). I covered it and let it work it’s magic.  Once it simmered for 20 minutes, I added basil (I used dried even though it said fresh).

Here is the result!

All in all, a delicious, easy marinara that is good for pasta, appetizers, anything!

What is your favorite go-to recipe for marinara?

Erin ♥

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