six vege pizza sauce

Our kids happily munch through a whole bowl of fruit a week, however I have tried for years to broaden their tastes in the vegetable department with little success. We present them with veges every day, encourage them to try new ones, we have our own vege garden growing, but still aged 5 and 6, they really are only happy to eat:

lettuce
cucumber
potatoes
carrot
sauces made with tomatoes
onion ( reeeeeally finely chopped)
courgette ( pureeded and hidden in sauces- no one mention the courgette!)
pumpkin ( in soup form only)
garlic and parsley- do they count as veges? :)
baked beans and bean mixes in nacho mince!!
chick peas ( as hummus)

We've had some success with:
celery ( with peanut butter )
brocolli ( they pretend they're dinosaurs eating trees!)

and no luck AT ALL with :
leeks
spring onions
mushrooms
red pepper
avocados
tomatoes fresh- we grow cherry ones every year too
kumara
cauliflower
peas
corn- even cobs!?
beetroot
cabbage
silverbeet
spinach
asparagus
and every other vege I haven't mentioned

SO, this caught my eye and I decided it was worth a try, I was even thinking of smuggling a few more veges in like broccoli and red peppers.

Six-vegie pizza sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 tsp brown sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 carrot, peeled, grated
1 zucchini, grated
1 large potato, peeled, grated
4 button mushrooms, grated
1 tsp Italian herbs
2 tsp Balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp tomato paste
400g can crushed tomatoes

The onions cook slowly for a while – get them going, then do the rest of your prep while they’re cooking.

Heat the oil in a medium sized saucepan over low-medium heat. Add the onion, and cook slowly for 10-15 minutes. Keep the pan covered, and just stir every couple of minutes. When the onions are translucent, remove the lid, sprinkle over the sugar and cook for another 10 minutes, stirring often, until the onions are golden brown.

Add in the garlic and cook for 30 seconds or so before tossing in all of the vegies. Again, you want to sweat them down, so give the mix a good stir, cover and give them about 10 minutes cooking time (lift the lid and stir every few minutes).

Remove the lid, add in the herbs, vinegar and tomato paste. Pour over the can of tomatoes and mix really well before recovering and simmering on the low heat for 10 minutes more.

Blitz the sauce up and use on pizza or mix through pasta. Makes about 4 cups & freezes really well.

Source: vegiesmugglers.com.au