Tomato sauce

I'm very fortunate that my family has jarred their own tomato sauce for years. So whenever I need to make something that requires sauce, I can just go downstairs and bring up a jar of sauce. It's basically ready to go the way it is, but I always add a little more to it and let it simmer before using it.

You can easily make "fresh" sauce on your own using a can of crushed tomatoes, some veggies and herbs.

Ingredients:
1 can crushed tomatoes (or a jar of your own sauce if you have it!)
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 carrot, peeled, quartered and sliced
1 celery stalk, thinly chopped (I often leave this out because I never seem to have celery around!)
1 tbsp tomato paste (if you don't have this that's okay)
Basil, oregano, bay leaves - to taste, about 1-1.5 tsp dried herbs or tbsp of fresh
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Sauté the onion in olive oil over medium heat for about a minute and add the garlic. After a couple of minutes add the carrot and celery and cook until softened, about another 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste, salt and pepper and stir.
Add the crushed tomatoes and herbs and bring to a boil. Lower heat, cover and let it simmer for at least an hour until the sauce has reduced and thickened. If you used whole bay leaves, remove and discard.
At this point you can use an immersion blender to roughly blend the sauce to thicken it and make it a smoother consistency.