Instructions: Grate copious amounts of garlic and saute in a squirt of Pam spray until brown. Sprinkle in some rosemary and oregano. Add veggies and some water and saute. Add some fresh basil leaves if you have them, and saute until they just wilt. Add a sufficient amount of canned tomato sauce and a little tomato paste to achieve the texture you want. For a couple of zucchini and 12 oz. of mushrooms, one standard can (16 oz?) of sauce is enough.

Good veggies for this: mushroom, zucchini, broccoli, spinach, artichoke heart, green bean, acorn squash. Peppers and onions added to the saute overwhelm the whole dish for me, making it taste like a big pepper (rather than a big TOMATO which is what I want it to taste like).

The Saturday afternoon way to get good veggies in sauce (a saute pan, a pot, a blender, another pot for skinning tomatoes):

if I have time I start my tomato sauce by simmering 3 oz. of sundried tomatoes and a head or two of whole garlic cloves (uncut garlic, cooked before processing, has a much milder taste than garlic that is cut before cooking). A handful of dried sweet red pepper flakes added to this is also good. Once everthing is cooked/rehydrated, I puree it, return it to the pot, add sauteed veggies PLUS several large peeled/seeded/chopped tomatoes.

Also rosemary, basil, oregano, thyme, bay leaves, etc. in random quantities, usually a couple of bay leaves and a couple of teaspoons of each of the dried herbs, and a big wad of fresh basil leaves (ADM hydroponic basil, found year-round in central IL grocery stores). Simmer this until it tastes done. If its thin, add a little more water and its soup, if thick, add a little tomato paste and its spaghetti sauce. Ive also put lentils in this and called it minestrone.

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