Do you have kids in daycare or school and at the end of each day you’re anxious to find out what they got up to?  They have been away for 8 or so hours to take on the world and navigate through their day without you.  Seems improbable that they could handle such a thing on their own but they seem to. When we’re out with my 5 year old it feels like we have to watch his every move like a hawk for fear he may act inappropriately or say something rude (funny) or accidentally break his arm while morphing into a superhero or something.  If we watch him so closely while we’re together how the heck can he get through a school or daycare day on a 5 year old’s moral compass?  So, fair enough, this begs my daily curiosity of what he got up to in school without us.

After pick up we ask my son how his day was and what he did and he says, “I’ll tell you at dinner”.  He’s no fool.  He knows he’ll get the same questions, or slightly more elaborate ones at the dinner table so why waste his answers on the car ride home when he can just get them all over with in one shot over a bowl of spaghetti?

When we all finally sit down to dinner and pop the questions it is hardly well worth the wait. The answers are uneventful and practically the same every day. ”I played, then I ate, then I went outside, then I played some more.”  I try to reach in there for more information and depth of emotion by asking “what did you have for lunch”?  But in our techy iWorld household where iPads have replaced magazines and antiquated conversation he says, “ask Siri”.  I suppose he made out just fine at daycare if he can come up with doozies like that on his own. 

My husband and I have a laugh then carry on with our usual little game of “is this dinner guest worthy” or “how much would you pay for this dish in a restaurant” and then all is right in the world and at the Hughes family dinner table.

Now today’s Family Food recipe is definitely guest worthy and I would pay at least $12.99 for a personal sized pizza draped in this yummy homemade pizza sauce!  Sometimes kids aren’t keen on over powering onion and garlic so I’ve left them out of this simple sauce recipe.  Luckily the sweetness of the cherry tomatoes and the zip of the balsamic vinegar stand on their own two feet appealing to the masses…kids, 12 months + babes and adults alike.

You can add this sauce to any kind of pizza dough or pita bread of choice and just add all your favorite pizza toppings and pop them in the oven.  Pictured below I’ve made Janet and Greta Podleski's amazingly quick and easy homemade, quick-rising, whole wheat and ground flax pizza dough, cleverly called “The Benefit of the Dough” in their best-selling “The Looneyspoons Collection” cookbook.  Do you yourself a favour and buy this book and check out their website for some amazing easy, healthy and delicious recipes for the whole family.  I’ve made so many of their recipes over the years and they never disappoint.

Gardens are crawling with cherry tomatoes this time of year.  These juicy little hidden gems are so sweet and delicious plucked right from the vine you wouldn’t want to let any go to waste so let’s make some pizza sauce with these babies! 

Ready…Set…Evolve…

Cherry Tomato Pizza Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp butter
• 2 cups cherry tomatoes quartered
• 1 cup low sodium tomato sauce
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 1/2 tsp. basil
• 1/4 tsp. of salt and pepper
• 1 ½ tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 tsp. honey

Baby Steps

1. Slice cherry tomatoes in quarters to produce 2 cups.
2. Melt butter in sauce pan over medium heat. Add in tomatoes and cook for about 3 minutes until they begin to soften.
3. Add in tomato sauce, oregano, basil, salt and pepper, balsamic vinegar and honey.  Stir, cover and simmer over medium/low heat for approx. 10 minutes until flours develop.
4. Remove from heat and add to pizza dough, pita bread, Nan bread or even English muffins or bagels, and add your favorite pizza toppings and pop into a pre-heated 425˚C oven for approximately 15 minutes until done.

Makes – Approx. 1 ½ cups of pizza sauce

Note:  This sauce can keep in the fridge for a few days or be frozen to use another day down the road when you or your kids have a hankering for pizza.

Even though your family dinner table questions may seem to fall on deaf or uninterested kid’s ears, keep them up, they’re listening.  They may want you to ask Siri for the answers, but they’re listening and you’re together.