Hidden Veggie Spaghetti Sauce

I still remember the day when, as a newlywed, I first read the nutrition label on the back of a can of spaghetti sauce:

Ten grams of sugar in 1/2 a cup!

And, let's be honest. Rarely did I eat just half a cup. I am a drown-your-noodle-spaghetti-sauce-soup, kind of girl. There were some pricey, sophisticated sauce options with lower sugar contents, but I was trying to budget for a move and a house and future children so I barely gave them a glance.

Ten ... errrr, 20 ... grams of sugar for me it was.

Fast forward a few years. Now that we have kids, I just can't justify putting that much sugar on their dinner plates and we still can't afford the pricier brands. Solution? Make my own spaghetti sauce! I set out to come up with a good red sauce recipe with three thoughts in mind:

1. It would need to be mild in taste because garlic wards off toddlers almost as well as it fends off vampires.
2. It should incorporate several vegetables because - again - "O" and his whole "no carrots" deal.
3. Also, could it pack in at least a little protein? Don't get me wrong! Some nights, when the banshees small children have worn me down to a skeleton of who I was 12 hours earlier, "noodles + tomatoes" sounds like a well-balanced meal. But, I could probably give at least a polite nod to protein with this sauce.

Here is the end result! It is thick and creamy with a color resembling vodka sauce. There is a good note of sweetness from carrots, easy on the garlic and pepper, and a few lentils tossed in for good measure. The marjoram is a softer, sweeter alternative to oregano (which some children find to sharp in flavor). And if you needed one more bonus for this awesome sauce - it freezes GREAT!

1/2 onion, diced

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 cup carrots, chopped

1 cup grape tomatoes

1 approx. 14 oz can of diced tomatoes and juices

1/4 cup lentils

1 1/4 cups broth
2 Tbs tomato paste
1 Tbs olive oil

1 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp tarragon

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp majoram

1/4 tsp fennel

1/8 - 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Sweat the onion, garlic, and carrots with a drizzle of olive oil + 1/4 teaspoon salt. Once the onions become translucent, add the rest of the ingredients and simmer on low - the longer the better! I like to make this during nap time when I know we will not be going anywhere while the baby sleeps. When baby is tired, everyone is tired. I simmer for 2 hours then set aside to reheat for dinner.

Makes enough for 1 box of spaghetti.