Healthy pasta? Sure, why not?

I eat a LOT of pasta.  I love Mediterraneo and frequently walk around the corner to Osteria for some pasta, but is there such thing as healthy pasta?  Probably, but I don't know it.  Since I'm on this health kick, I thought I'd try to whip up something with a lot less calories than my cream based love, Alfredo sauce.  I found a marinara sauce recipe online and figured I'd give it a shot and will hopefully have something fabulous and healthy to take for lunch tomorrow. I actually found multiple recipes online but this looked the simplest and took the least amount of time.  Again, I'm eyeballing the figures; it worked the last time....

4 tablespoons olive oil

Somehow we have plenty of that.  Random since all the guys eat is Indian food.

4 cloves garlic, minced

Minced, I'm assuming is a lot like chopped.  However I'm picturing beef and have no clue how minced garlic would look.  I can't imagine whatever the difference is will actually matter once I get them sauteed.  And yes, I know what saute is.  (So I was just informed what mincing is by our house guest, thanks Elliot!  He says it's the smallest you can chop it.  "Mince is like mush."  Ok, then, I can probably manage that; I might chop off a finger tip but it's marinara, no one will ever notice a little blood.)  [Hmmm, so I wouldn't call it mush, but it's smaller than I normally chop and I might get carpal tunnal if I keep it up so I'm going to call it good.]

1 small onion, chopped
1 28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes

So I don't have a can of these.  Y'know, because I have the real things.  Apparently that's about 2 lbs, again, does not help as I have absolutely no way to measure or weigh anything.  Someone else says about 3.5 cups.  Oh! And someone else says about 6; I guess I'll go with that. 

3 teaspoons dried basil leaves

Um, I think I'm going to have to go with the Mixed Herbs in the cabinet for that.

1 teaspoon white sugar

Since there's no real white sugar that I've ever seen in Kenya (is it bleached in the US?)  I'll use the regular stuff that looks a lot like a light brown sugar but is less sticky and sweet than real brown sugar.

Salt and pepper to taste

Maybe I should let someone else do the tasting.  I'm prone to overdo both of those....

Ok so just noticed there is supposed to be another 1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes too. 

And we're sauteing.  Love the smell of garlic!  Um so, this peeling thing.  Apparently you can stick the tomatoes in boiling water and take them out and the peels come right off.  That sounds like a whole lot of effort.  And as I'm not actually against tomatoes with peels I think we're going to skip that one.  Crushing fresh tomatoes is a bit more difficult than I would have imagined.  I blame the plastic crusher thingie-a-ma-jig.  I've taken to chopping them and putting them in a pot to cook before I add them to the rest of the recipe. Ahhhh, so much easier to smash now!

In a skillet over medium heat, saute garlic and onion in the olive oil; about 10 minutes. Break apart the whole tomatoes with your hands and add to the pan along with the crushed tomatoes, basil, sugar, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

T
he sauce is simmering and the pasta is sitting in water that might boil eventually.  I was told that "it smelled good" so I guess that's promising. 


So it took me a *little* longer than the allotted 35 minutes but in my defense I didn't pour tomatoes out of cans either.  And, Curry Delight's roommate declared it "good, just what he wanted...yesterday."  Oh well, he is a creature of habit and his craving did inspire me into creation mode anyhow. 

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