Jeff's Fresh Low-carb Tomato Sauce

I love fresh tomatoes. I grow them every year in my garden and can at least a dozen quarts in addition to what we eat during the season. There is nothing very unique about this recipe - it is simply my adaptation of a basic tomato sauce. No added sugar, of course. Tomatoes are not for everyone on a low carb eating plan. They can be a trigger food for some people and in a sauce can be carb dense. Even this recipe has 18 grams per cup of sauce. Used 1/2 cup at a time, it adds 9 grams of carbohydrate to a meal. That's too much for Atkins induction, but certainly allowable on OWL for people with high enough CCLL's.

Note that 3 cups of juice are drawn off during the cooking process. I hate canned tomato juice. The fresh juice you get from fresh tomatoes is WONDERFUL! It makes a nice addition to a bacon and eggs breakfast and adds only about 5 grams of carbohydrate per cup.

The best way to store this sauce is in individual portions in the freezer. I freeze what we don't immediately use in 1 cup portions (2 servings for us).

10     medium  Garden Tomatoes (Approx 2 quarts)
 1     medium  Onion (2.5-3"), chopped
2-4    cloves  Garlic, chopped
1/2    tbl     Basil
1/2    tsp     Oregano
1-2    tsp     Salt
               Olive Oil

Process whole tomatoes one or two at a time in boiling water for
about one minute.  Remove with slotted spoon and place in cool
water for another minute.  Remove skins and cores and place in
a large pot.  Add salt and bring to a boil.  Boil gently for 5
minutes.  At the end of the boiling period there will be quite
a bit of liquid.  Remove 3 cups of liquid for use as tomato juice.
In a separate 3 quart sauce pan add enough olive oil to cover the
bottom of the pan and saute onions until translucent.  Add garlic
and saute for another minute.  Add tomatoes and simmer uncovered
for 45 minutes or until the sauce has thickened.  Add the basil
and oregano and simmer another 15 minutes or until the sauce has
reached the desired consistency.

Yield:  4 cups sauce, 3 cups juice

Carb Count: Entire recipe - approximately 72 grams. 18 grams per cup of sauce. Approximately 5 grams per cup of juice.