Garden Veggie Homemade Marinara Sauce [+Video]

Looking for a healthy and delicious pasta sauce recipe? This garden veggie homemade marinara sauce is packed with flavorful vegetables and can be made in under 30 minutes. Watch the video tutorial and try it out tonight!

Every kid loves pizza, many love spaghetti so a marinara sauce is a great way to get your children to enjoy more veggies. Try vegetarian marinara sauce!

I’ve never been a big fan of sneaking veggies into food as I’d rather my kids learn to love vegetables, but I see nothing wrong with packing something full of them in an easy to eat way like vegetarian spaghetti sauce.

What is Sautéing?

The word sauté (pronounced “saw-TAY”) refers to a form of dry-heat cooking that uses a hot pan and a small amount of fat to cook the food.

Why Sauté?

There’s only one step that I insist on for this entire recipe, please make sure you take a moment to sauté the vegetables before making the sauce. Think of it like corn or grilled corn. Isn’t grilled corn so much more delicious? Same thing with sautéing vegetables for a dish, the heat breaks them down and really brings out the flavor.

I mean, it’s like eating raw carrots with your roast at Sunday dinner or nice and caramelized carrots from baking in the pan with that beefy babe.

I think that’s one of my favorite tips about cooking. To some it may seem obvious but to a large portion of the public something like sautéing everything versus just throwing it all in a pot to simmer may not be.

Ingredients for Vegetable Marinara Sauce

This sauce really doesn’t need much fuss either. A bunch of veggies, a little cheese and a dollop of butter and you’re good to go. The secret is a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. I don’t know why it works but it does. I’ll wait for America’s Test Kitchen to figure that one out. Here is the ingredients list:

• Olive Oil
• Herbs and Seasonings: Crushed Red Pepper Flakes, Kosher Salt, Fresh Basil Leaves, Dried Oregano and Black Pepper
• Vegetables: Garlic, Zucchini, Carrot, Baby Bella Mushrooms, Red Bell Pepper, Yellow Bell Pepper, Orange Bell Pepper and Crushed Tomatoes
• Tomato Sauce
• Brown Sugar
• Butter
• Parmesan Cheese
• Balsamic Vinegar

The measurements and details for each ingredient can be found in the recipe card at the end of the post.

How to Make Homemade Marinara Sauce

Honestly, the most time consuming part of this chopping all the veggies before sautéing them. After that, it’s a total breeze! Here are all the steps:

1. Sauté: Place a dutch oven on the stove top over medium heat and add the olive. Let it heat up until it’s shimmering. Then add the garlic and crush red pepper. Stir for about a mi

Pizza-dilla (Pizza Quesadilla) [+Video]

Have you ever had a pizza quesadilla (or tortilla pizza)? It is such a quick and easy way to enjoy those classic pizza flavors! We have named them “pizza-dillas” in our house!

It’s always the random recipes that turn out the best. We held a quesadilla throw down one Sunday evening and things got a little delicious. At first we had planned to make original quesadillas using anything, but the kids decided to have us all pick a meat then create any kind of quesadilla you want.

I ended up with pepperoni and at first was a little bummed. But it turned out to be the best quesadilla ever!! The secret? Oh my goodness, it’s so random and I don’t even know why it works, but a little lime honey drizzle inside of the quesadilla, wow!!! It’s absolutely delicious!!! The buttery, garlic topping and that touch of salt from the cotija cheese, it’s just so good! Always use vista tortillas, my favorite, and Volpi pepperoni is hands down the best!

We make them in the air fryer which makes them extra crispy and delicious, and dinner is on the table in 10 minutes!

Ingredients for Tortilla Pizzas

The ingredients for pizzadillas are simple with a couple of key items that take the flavor profile to the next level! Here is what you will need:

• Flour Tortillas: Our favorite brand is Vista, but you can use whatever flour tortillas your family loves.
• Mozzarella: Buy a brick of good quality mozzarella cheese and shred it yourself for the best flavor and melt factor.
• Pepperoni: Volpi is the best brand ever. I find it here in Utah at Trader Joe’s and Harmons. If you can’t find Volpi, then ask the deli counter worker for a good quality pepperoni.
• Butter: I use unsalted butter just to keep the saltiness down, and it’s used to create the garlic butter spread for the outside of the tortilla pizza.
• Johnny’s Garlic Spread: I always buy Johnny’s at Costco, but you can find it at most grocery stores or online. Any garlic seasoning would work to mix with the butter for the garlic butter spread.
• Honey: A little drizzle inside of the pizzadilla adds a little touch of sweetness that makes all the other flavors burst. You could use hot honey instead if you want a little heat!
• Read more

guiltless chicken pesto pizza

Pizza is one of those foods I thought I had to give up when I was trying to lose weight, but it’s not true! I just had to learn how to make recipes like this so i could enjoy my favorites without the extra grease and excess junk.

That’s exactly why I created my Guiltless Recipe ebook. It has over 135 guilt-free recipes (including desserts & cocktails!) plus everything I learned over 2 years to help you create a healthy, balanced lifestyle you love.

My guiltless Chicken Pest pizza was one of the first pizza’s I made (after trying it at healthier takeout spot) and is still my go-to when I get a pizza craving so let me show you how it’s done👇🏻

Guiltless Chicken Pesto Pizza

Ingredients:

• 1 pre-made cauliflower crust (or your crust of choice)
• 1/2 cup of your favorite pesto sauce (I use my lemon-pesto from my Guiltless Recipe Ebook)
• Grilled chicken breast, thinly sliced (because protein is a must)
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved or 1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 1/2 onion, gilled
• Crumbled feta cheese
• Fresh basil leaves
• A pinch of crushed red pepper

Instructions:

1. Preheat and Prep: Start by preheating your oven to 450°F (232°C). While that’s heating up, sprinkle a touch of flour on a clean surface and roll out your pizza dough into your desired shape. It’s your pizza canvas – get creative!
2. Spread the Flavor: Grab that pesto sauce and generously slather it all over your pizza dough. Think of it as your guilt-free flavor foundation.
3. Chicken Power: Lay out those thinly sliced grilled chicken pieces on top of the pesto-covered canvas. Protein boost? Check!
4. Tasty Tomato Distribute those halved cherry tomatoes and onion all over.
5. Gimme that Crunch: Sprinkle those delightful pine nuts all around for a texture that’s nutty and nice.
6. Feta Frenzy: Time to introduce the star of the show – crumbled feta cheese. Sprinkle it generously over the pizza, adding that creamy and tangy punch we all adore.
7. Into the Oven: Slide your pizza into the preheated oven and let the magic unfold. About 12-15 minutes should do the trick, resulting in a golden crust and melty cheese perfection.
8. Basil Beauty: Once your pizza emerges from the oven looking on point, sprinkle torn fresh basil leaves on top.
9. Embrace Guilt-Free Goodness: Slicer it up and remember, this is a

Classic Margherita Pizza Recipe

My go-to pizza at all pizza restaurants is a margherita. It’s my favorite…hands down. Logically I had to create my own classic margherita pizza recipe that rivals the pies I had in Italy.

I honestly feel like you can judge how legit a pizza place is on how good their margherita is. If they can’t make a good marg…pizza in it’s most simple, pure form…then I have little hope for any of their other ‘zas. Might be harsh, but it has worked for me so far!

The crust in this recipe is a Neopolitan crust which means that it is thin. We love it thin and chewy. This pizza crust recipe is flawless and the perfect compliment to the simple and delicate but bold flavor of a margherita pizza.

Ingredients for a Margherita Pizza Recipe

Recipes that are amazing have to be complicated and have a grocery list a mile long, right? Wrong! The crust has just 5 ingredients, the sauce has 2, and for the toppings, there are 3. It really couldn’t be more simple! Here is what you will need:

Dough:

• Baker’s flour (or 00 flour): essential to getting that chewy crust you want in a pizza, see section below for more details
• Water: it needs to be warm (105-115 degrees F) to activate the yeast properly
• Sea Salt: go for fine grain, adds flavor to the crust
• Sugar: feeds the yeast
• Instant Yeast: don’t use active dry yeast

Sauce:

• San Marzano Tomatoes: you can use crushed, whole, diced…whatever you can find…it all ends up in the blender
• Sea Salt: adds flavor to the sauce

Toppings:

• Fresh Mozzarella: you can use as much or as little of the cheese as you want
• Fresh Basil: I like to leave the leaves whole and scatter them over th