Tag: blender

Quick pizza or pasta sauce from scratch

Ingredients:

2 lbs Roma tomatoes, cored and seeded
1 tablespoon olive oil or grape-seed oil
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning mix
1 1/2 tablespoons oregano
1 heavy pinch red pepper flakes (optional)
1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic
pinch salt or to taste
optionally to thicken: 1 – 2 tablespoons ground flax seeds or half that amount in psyllium husk or ground chia seeds

Directions:

To start out you need to prep your tomatoes by coring them. The best way to do this is to use an apple corer or you can cut the tomatoes in half and use a V cut to remove the core. Then you need to scrape the seeds out using your fingers. While not required, it helps to remove extra liquid and makes the cooking time faster. (don’t throw the liquid and core out, I ate it with a little tabasco as a virgin bloody Mary shot (lol) however you can add this to a salad dressing for extra nutrition or in your morning juice)

In a larger sized skillet add 1 tablespoon grape-seed or olive oil and swirl it coat. Heat on medium high until hot. You can test the heat by adding a few pieces and waiting for them to sizzle. Once hot, slowly add all your tomatoes in as to not splash the oil. Now add your seasoning. I prefer Italian seasoning blend, freshly ground black pepper, and extra oregano with a pinch of hot pepper flakes however you can change these to your specific tastes. Optionally you can add 1 1/2 tablespoons garlic, mined finely. I used a pre-minced version although 5-6 garlic cloves will equal the same amount. Now carefully stir the seasoning. Cover with a lid and cook for 5 minutes, still on medium high, without opening the lid.

After 5-6 minutes remove the lid and stir. At this point your tomatoes should be basically falling apart and super tender. If you have a stick blender you can whizz this up in a pan otherwise transfer to a blender container. Pulse blend for literally 5-10 seconds. Now optionally you can add a thickener like I chose to. I did this so the sauce would “feel” better on the pizza. Add 1-2 tablespoons flax meal to the blender WHILE RUNNING. If you just add this while not running you could just end up with a large ball of thickener. This is also the time to add any salt if desired. If you want you can use psyllium seed or ground chia seeds, however, I would half the amount of thickener as they set foods up faster.

At this point your sauce is ready for use on pasta, a sauce to dip your bread sticks into, or spread onto your pizza crust for amazing homemade pizza!

*Note* the thickener is not required however I find you get a better sauce with it added as most store bought sauces have some form of thickening agent. If you choose not to use it, you will need to cook for 2-3 times as long to get the same consistency OR your sauce is just thinner. It’s your choice, ENJOY! ^.^

Nutritional information is for 1 cup serving. Full recipe makes about 4 1/2 cups:

Chocolate Banana Granola

NOTE: This is a re-post of an OLD recipe from 2009-2010 on my old wordpress blog before I got my own domain. Since I like this recipe. I have transferred it here. Any images marked with faylinameir.wordpress.com are still property of www.faylinameir.com and myself.

original date: January 27th, 2012 at 5:16am

Chocolate Banana Granola

Ingredients:

3 cups oats, soaked
2 ounces nuts (soaking optional), chopped
3 bananas
3 tablespoons ground cocoa
1/2 teaspoon oil
sweetener, optional & to taste

Directions:

In a blender, (or food processor) blend the bananas together with the ground cocoa, oil, and if needed the sweetener of your choice. When mixture is smooth, dump into a bowl with your oats, and nuts. Mix thoroughly. Place in your dehydrator at 110 degree for 12-20 hours.About 6-8 hours in, go ahead and break up the granola, this not only helps in drying but helps in the final product. The time depends on your environment, so after 12 hours, start checking, if you think it needs more time then give it more time.

I personally prefer almonds, cashews, and pecans in this recipe, but the nuts are your choice. Optionally you could use seeds instead of nuts, sunflower or pumpkin are my personal favorites. Enjoy!

Makes: 3 cups granola, Preparation time: 2mins, Cooking time: 12 – 20 hours

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Nutritional Breakdown.
Serving size 1/2 cup

(click photo for full size, rather big, but detailed as usual!)