Fresh Tomato Sauce + less than 250 cal sausage pizza!

trishlambert

It's tomato season!!! My veggie vendor at the local farmer's market was preselling a variety of fresh picked tomatoes, and I ordered a bunch of them. Picked up a big box of sauce tomatoes (kind of like romas, but longer and denser), a big box of beefsteaks, and three pints of grape tomatoes. Yum!

So...I've made a big batch of my "base" tomato sauce. I use it for spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, tomato spread, you name it. It's really simple...here's what I did today (you can adjust the oil depending on the amount of tomatoes):

3 lbs fresh tomatoes, coarsely chopped (I leave the skins on, so I don't blanch and peel them)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp sea salt

That's it! It all went into a saucepan and simmers until the juice reduced and the sauce was thick and the tomatoes were mushed up.

Then I tookit off the heat and stir in minced garlic...about a teaspoon of the fresh mince/olive oil combo I prepare in a batch and keep in the fridge.

According to my calculations, this base sauce is 215 calories for a 1/2 cup portion.

From here, you can make spaghetti sauce...if the sauce is too thick thin a bit with water or chicken broth (or veggie broth), and add herbs. I sometimes go traditional with fresh basil, but more often I go with an herb that an Italian friend of mine uses in her sauce: fresh rosemary. Yum. Of course, since this is a base sauce, you can make a whole bunch of different sauces--add bacon or prosciutto and some red pepper flakes, or stir in fat free half and half or greek yogurt to make a pink sauce. You can also combine with yogurt or cottage cheese to make a spread for crackers or bread.

But TONIGHT, I used some of it as pizza sauce and made a sausage pizza that was under 250 calories...here it is:

1 whole wheat tortilla, crisped in the oven or microwave
2 T my wonderful sauce, used as pizza sauce this time
1 ounce Honeysuckle white breakfast sausage (in the tube), cooked and crumbled
2 T fat free mozzarella cheese

Spread the sauce on the tortilla, distribute the crumbled sausage, sprinke the cheese on top, and broil till cheese is melted and is as brown as you want.

Serves 1 person, 245 calories.

YUM!!!