My secret pasta sauce
November 19, 2009 • Hello. I am currently out of the country and unable to respond to comments and e-mails. Rest assured, however, that future posts have been scheduled so new recipes will go live almost everyday during my absence. I'll be back soon with lots of stories and photos. Ciao for now! ~ ConnieOkay, I don’t want to sound preachy and I know I’ll probably antagonize a lot of mothers who read my blog, and my friends will probably get to read this entry, but I’d be less than honest if I held back. I have to get this out of my chest. So, anyway, that was the situation when we hosted that small dinner party for my husband’s birthday. I took a huge gamble and solved the problem.
One of the dishes I planned to serve that night was baked spaghetti. You know, all kids eat spaghetti and my friends’ hard-to-feed kids are no exception. It so happened that I was short on tomato paste. If I were cooking for just the four of us, no problem, but it was a dinner party for 15, so I had to do some fast thinking. What I had plenty of were carrots. And tomatoes. Lots and lots of tomatoes because we were also serving a salad to go with the roast turkey. I took my Thunderstick, pureed a kilo and a half of tomatoes with about 3 large onions, 2 carrots and plenty of red pimientoes and fresh basil leaves. Then, I cooked the pasta sauce. It was a gamble. I mean, when I cook pasta for my kids, even when there’s tomato paste around, tomato paste is often just for added color. Fresh vegetables are a must unless there’s really none in the house. It happens; I won’t deny that. But when I add vegetables, they are not pureed but hand chopped for added texture. It’s a formula I never tried with other kids. And, on my husband’s birthday, I knew I could end up with plenty of uneaten spaghetti. I went ahead, pureed the vegetables and cooked the pasta sauce anyway.
The spaghetti in the photo is a reproduction of the one I cooked for my husband’s birthday. By that I mean, I cooked another tray of baked spaghetti for the four of us a few days after the dinner party. See, the kids loved the baked spaghetti so much, it was gone before my husband and I could sample it. At least our girls each had a serving; he and I didn’t make it on time. Point is, those hard-to-feed kids couldn’t see all those vegetables in the pasta and they devoured it. I suppose it shows that children’s prejudice against vegetables is not so much about flavor but about appearance. And the prejudice could be overcome even with older children.
I didn’t tell anyone that night about the pasta sauce. In fact, I wasn’t going to blog about it because some of my friends read my blog. I don’t want them telling their kids because it might make the kids wary about pasta dishes that I will serve in the future. I just want to keep feeding them with the pasta, and all those vegetables, and when they have learned to appreciate the difference between a pasta sauce with real vegetables and those ready-to-pour sauces, then I’d let them know. But then I considered how many mothers, and kids, might benefit from my experience. Hence, this entry.
So, now, I’ll give you the recipe for my secret pasta sauce.
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ha, ha — you are so right about Filipino kids and their aversion to veggies. most American kids (actually, all kids I know who were born here) aren’t the same way because pediatricians here in the US “prescribe” veggies (mashed or “bottled”) as part of their introduction to eating solid food.
i was the same way with my 4-yr old as you were with your kids. when my little boy started eating solids, i gave him mashed carrots, peas, green beans, and spinach in every meal. my mom also taught me how to puree sinigang, tinola, and other pinoy staples. i added cooked white rice and broth to the pureed stuff and fed my baby the healthy concoction three times a day. so now that he’s 4, he doesn’t eat fast food and prefers eating home cooked meals specifically asking for the green stuff (kangkong, spinach, green beans) in the dish. i used to have to pack food for him whenever we went out to eat because he didn’t know what to do with burgers and chicken nuggets. while on the other side of the world, all my little nephews and nieces in manila are all aversed to veggies and fruits (yes, even fruits) and include Jollibee as part of their daily nutrition. sad.
your spaghetti sauce is a wonderful ingenious way of force-feeding kids hiding veggies. my sister-in-law’s sisters in NYC do it all the time. they also hide milk (another aversion) in their dishes — say, instead of water, they use milk in mashed potatoes, cakes, oatmeal, and many more.
great post sassy! i’d love to see this over at Mommy Talks also.
Hi Connie-
When I was a kid, one of the vegetables I couldn’t eat “undisguised” was squash but my nanay had a brilliant solution- squash macaroons and pumpkin pie which were really yummy. Eventually I learned to eat squash (and other vegetables too) in dishes like laksa, pinakbet and ginataan. Oddly enough though, I used to devour guyabano (even the most sour ones) when I was young, and now I can’t/won’t eat it!
i got my kids (now aged 9 and 3) to eat veggies the way you did. i’d boil my meats with plenty of potatoes and carrots and mix with the rice. they love pasta and i think i must add this recipe for this weekend’s lunch. thanks!
oh! i can smell the cream cheese topping already!
i have a 12 year old brother and he doesn’t like to eat veggies. i think im going to print this recipe and send it to my mother.
so… how much tomatoes should be used in this recipe??
purplegirl, sad that the fast food junk epidemic is really growing here.
based on Jamie Oliver’s show, UK kids are also averse to veggies. Worse, they are averse to natural food. They prefer those processed junk. Fried pa.
aggie, o di ba, with a little patience and imagination, it’s possible to make kids like vegetables. hayan, living example ka pa.
rose z, i think including veggies in pasta dishes is the best way to get kids to eat them. next time, i’ll make lasagne with hidden veggies hehehe
hope it works with your bro, paupau.
Hi Sassy! I totally enjoyed your ‘Not-so-secret-anymore’ pasta sauce. Yes, it’s sad that the fast food junk epidemic is hitting it’s all time high, especially here in the states. And the sizes of the children and adults really justify that. Everything can be super-sized and now the bodies are all super-sized! ^__^
You’re very clever, indeed, blending and using your food processor to almost liquidate all the veggies. And if any of your friends divulge your ’secret’ to their children, well then, we all know where to put the blame. “Children only learn what they live”, diba?
I raised by now-almost-21 yr old daughter to eat veggies in their truest form. Yes, she does not like bittermelon or okra amongst other awful tasting and slimy veggies. Yuck! I don’t blame her…lol…because I don’t care for okra or any other slimys, either, but I do like bittermelon.
Goodness gracious. Are our younger generation of Filipinos turning out like the Americans, young and old? I’ve got friends who don’t like and/or will never even try seafood. Can you believe that!?! Oh well, it’s their loss.
Oops, sorry for venting. But it irks me when children/adults won’t even try something once and THEN form their opinion. But, this is all IMHO…
Love your humor!
hi connie, thanks for the tip. i should try this too coz one of my housemates don’t eat veggies! (take note, she’s not a kid, but a grown woman. lol) anyway, i agree with you that it’s only the appearance that she/they (non veggie eaters) dislike, before i was able to “trick” her by mixing mashed cauliflower with mashed potato. :p she ate it!
this is one fantastic idea.
although my daughter doesn’t really hate veggies, it’s just that there are times that she’s not in the mood to eat one. what she really like are raddish, corn, eggplant, tomatoes and sweet potatoes. i guess this time she wouldn’t say no to other vegetables.
thanks, connie!
I edited the recipe, grace, by adding the 1-1/2 kilos of tomatoes. forgot that although it’s in the text of the entry.
shirley, one more thing about filipinos… a lot of parents humor the kids’ aversion to veggies because they say gulay is pagkaing pang-marihap. shucks, really.
crazy, isn’t it, karen? vegetables add so much color to food and some people don’t like them?
phynkee, right, she can’t say no.
hi connie! been using that kind of sauce since my eldest was about 2 and she’s now 10. i use fresh tomatoes, grated carrots, lots of garlic and onions. my two little ones love the sauce too.
they have no aversion to most of the fruits, in fact they love them: pineapple, watermelon, avocado, grapes, apples, bananas, melon, mangoes, even the big guavas. they eat chopsuey. also nilagang baka and sinigang, including the vegetables.
it’s really all in the training, right, julie?
yep..plus i don’t give in to whines saying i don’t like the (sinigang), i like so and so..
my philosophy: eat what is served or go hungry. kinda harsh but it works. btw, had the tomato and carrot filled sauce with the spaghetti for dinner a while ago.
For a change, I will be using this trick to my husband who doesn’t eat veggies! He hates them, carrots and potatoes, which are the usual ingredients of my veggie dishes since our sons, 3 and 1, love them… Guess I have to blame my mom-in-law for that! My husband will get mad at me for that statement, kasi kontra-pelo talaga kami ng biyenan ko… LOL!
This looks really delicious! For the topping, what can I use that’s equivalent to the quickmelt cheese? Can I use Velveeta?
Thanks!
julie, that’s what I say too. you don;t like the food, don’t eat. ayaw ko yung sinusuyo-suyo pa. Pucha, pinagluto na nga, susuyuin pa?
imawniumay, talaga? wow. my hubby is carnivorous too but he eats veggies naman.
mimi, yes.
Hi Connie! I love your pasta sauce, which i think my wife makes already everyweek. Yes, we raised our kids too just like you eating veg. early on. There is one thing i would like to share and that is “drinking your veg”. My wife makes smoothies for us every day for breakfast that consists of banana, mango or peach, strawberries and for the liquid she juices 5-6 big carrots and an apple and voila a refreshing and nutritious smoothie for my boys and myself. You are so right, its all about the training….
He eats veggies, but very few… Talagang ayaw niya potatoes, carrots, kamote, and the likes. Talo pa nga siya ng panganay namin who eats okra in sinigang! VERY PICKY-EATER ang husband ko, I should say. ANd I really put the blame on the responsible person. Hindi kasi ganon ang training sa amin. We were taught to eat whatever is on the table.
hi connie
this is so much like my fave baked mac that my mom-in-law makes! never asked for the recipe…so thanks a lot..now i know her secret too…;)shhhhh
too bad my kids are those ‘picky-eaters’ you mentioned in your column…my fault i guess…i am in angle number 1 i admit! back then, i thought as long as they eat, that’s good enough…anything except chocolates and chips…now that i started cooking seriously hehe…i realized that big mistake! but just yesterday i was so happy i was able to make them eat broccoli and carrots that i mashed in the nilaga i served them! but i told them after ‘did you know that you ate veggies?’ and they were happy naman…next step…baked mac! tonight! thanks again!
Hi again!
I came across your old post, potato omelette. I have been preparing it for quite some time now, but then again, my husband would only eat the egg part and not the potatoes. This morning, I used the “trick” of mashed potatoes, added evaporated milk so he won’t be able to taste the potatoes… IT WORKED! SUCCESS! I was able to trick him.. but, of course, I won’t tell him… NEVER! LOL.
arthur, you might want to try my cucumber cooler if you like veggie smoothies.
ces, baka with older kids, reason will work? like the line veggies are good for you stuff. besides, the young today are so figure-conscious. might induce them to eat more veggies since they are non-fattening. hehehe
imawniumay, the reverse is true with my kids. they prefer the potatoes over the eggs… I think it\’s because it\’s almost like french fries.
Hi Connie,
Yes all my 4 children know how to eat veggies when they were little. When they got to be adults however, two of them don’t touch the stuff anymore. These two were the ones introduced to gerber back when they were babies, but i don’t know if this has something to do with their grown-up aversion to veggies.
malou, sometimes i think, during the teen years, it’s the pressure to conform. if friends don’t eat veggies then veggies are “not cool”.
yep, I do that to my spaghetti sauce too! Sneak in veggies
I’ve also added diced zucchini and/or eggplants, and it’s good! Like you, I’ve always fed my girls veggies since they were old enough to eat solid foods. The only drawback to them being used to home cooking is, now when I’m feeling lazy and use the canned spaghetti sauce, they won’t eat it! They say they want my home-made sauce. They are also restaurant snobs…they can tell a canned sauce in an instant! then they immediately give the restaurant a low rating 
JMom, re “restaurant snob”. Oh, yes! I know exactly what you mean. My kids are sometimes so rude when they describe other people’s cooking. Like school canteen food is yucky.
If I have a lot of tomatoes, I would boil them with 1 onion until they disintegrate. I then pass the whole thing through a sieve. That gives me 2 meals. What passed through the sieve I make into tomato soup (with macaroni and meatballs or boiled eggs to make a complete meal.) The solid stuff is what I use for pasta sauce. I also use grated carrots in my red pasta sauces, and in tacos/echilada meat, instant noodle soup etc.
Good evening Ms. Connie,
Just want to ask with regards to your “good meat broth”. Can I use lets say “KNORR” beef/pork/chicken cubes? Or I really have to buy beef/pork bones, bring to a boil and extract the soup?
Will appreciate your immediate response. I am planning to prepare your “Bake Macaroni” recipe this coming Wednesday, August 15 for my birthday treat to my officemates.
By the way, I would like you to know that almost every night I used to visit your website. I really enjoy getting more recipes and have it a try (one at a time) soon!
Thank you so much and more power!
JING A. MORADA
Jing, link to homemade broth.
Miss. Connie,
How many months po ba is this sauce good? I’m planning kasi to make a big batch and then just re-heat them when we need it…Thanks and God bless you!
I really don’t know. It never lasts too long in my house.