Pizza and french fries. They’re America’s favorite foods, making the potato and tomato the two most popular vegetables we eat. Surprisingly, they’re both part of the same family–the nightshade family.  And if you find yourself struggling with autoimmune disease, leaky gut, inflammatory bowel disease, or food allergies, you might have discovered that tomatoes are part of your problem. 

But what can you do? Tomatoes are in so many of our favorite dishes! Recently, I discovered a recipe that looked like a good substitute for tomato sauce. I decided to give it a try, with just a couple of minor adjustments. Today, I served it for lunch in a pasta dish with mushrooms and red beans. My son and husband were delighted at how good it tasted. It hit all our “love tomato” buttons. 

What I like about it is how loaded it is with colorful, anti-oxidant vegetables–sweet potatoes, carrots, and beets! Not to mention onions and garlic. So even though you have to forego tomatoes with all their heart-friendly benefits, you’re not being shortchanged at all. Not in looks, flavor or nutrition. I hope that Nomato Sauce will become a new start to enjoying Mexican and Italian foods again.

NOMATO SAUCE

• 1-2 cups water
• 3 carrots, steamed
• 1 large sweet potato or 2 medium sweet potatoes, steamed
• 1 large onion
• 9 cloves garlic
• 1 3/4 teaspoons unprocessed salt
• 1/2 teaspoon basil
• 1 1/2 teaspoon Vitamin C crystals
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• ½ to 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1/2 to 1 fresh beet, steamed

I prefer to buy beets with the leafy greens still on them as they have a more delicate flavor and color. Large beets sold separately may have a bitter flavor or they may make the sauce too dark. The greens are yummy in smoothies or sauteed.

1.  Peel and cut your carrots and sweet potatoes into small pieces. Steam them together in a vegetable steamer.
2. Then add a medium size beet to the steamer and steam this vegetable by itself. It will take longer to become tender than the carrots and sweet potatoes.
3. Add them to a high-speed blender. Add 1-2 cups of water, starting at 1/2 cup at a time. Keep adding water to help your blender keep doing its job. Blend until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
4. Add in 1/2 cup of vegetable broth.
5. Cut up a medium size onion into bite-size pieces.
6. Mince 8-9 garlic cloves–that may sound like a lot but it is not overpowering in the Nomato Sauce. But feel free to adjust it to suit your taste.
7. Add the onion and garlic pieces to the blender. Continue to process. Add additional broth to keep the blender working smoothly.
8. Add the remaining ingredients to the blender.
9. Add the fresh beet last. Cut it into small pieces and add these to the sauce, a little at a time. Do not add too much or the sauce will become too dark. The first time I made this, I used a medium size beet. You don’t need to skin it, just gradually add the pieces to the blender.
10. Pour the mixture into a 2-quart saucepan and cook over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil and immediately turn it to a simmer. Cover the pan and continue cooking for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. If the sauce is too thick, you can add some extra water. I ended up using the water from steaming the vegetables.
11. In the last 15 minutes, you can add in some Nomato Sauce additions. I added a cup of chopped portobello mushrooms and an orange bell pepper along with 2 tablespoons of dried basil, and 2 teaspoons of oregano. Other variations could include 1/2 cup of chopped black olives or herbs such as rosemary or marjoram.

This recipe was easy to make and definitely fun to watch how the beet changed the sauce from pink to bright red. It will change color as you cook it and even more when you combine it with other ingredients in making your favorite tomato dishes.

Yield: 5 cups of delicious, tangy sauce