Need an alternative to tomato pasts sauce

[needideas]

I have been making my own past sauce for my children for ages. Basically it is 1/2 super veggies and half tinned tomatoes with added herbs blended up and frozen into portions. My children love it and I usually add some form of protein (crab/ tuna/ chicken/ ham).

I think they are eating this a bit too much and so would love to hear any ideas on other healthy pasta sauces that people cook and can freeze.

[dumb mum]

Home made pesto - basil grows really well here, although pine nuts are outrageously expensive.  Could try almonds instead, i guess

[healthy sauce]

try extra veggies and maybe a small handful of all-bran or some other kind of bran.  Apart from it being a bit of a boring sounding diet for most of us, children do seem to get set in their ways with food like this and there's no harm in it as it's not an unhealthy dish.  You could also switch to wholemeal pasta if you want them to have more fibre (although my children spot it immediately in any pasta dish and don't like it and to be honest, while I can eat brown rice happily, I'm not too keen on wholemeal pasta myself).

You could also go for the aglio variety where you don't have a sauce - just onions, garlic and then whatever else - bacon, olives, mushrooms etc.  I'm sure there are lots of ideas for alternatives on the internet.

but with a tomato sauce, if you're making it yourself then at least it's good wholesome stuff and much better than the canned/jar variety.

[jalanperak]

Home made pesto - basil grows really well here, although pine nuts are outrageously expensive.  Could try almonds instead, i guess

Walnuts would be a better choice. They've been used in various "pounded" herb sauces around Europe and the Mediterranean for centuries, and their flavor compliments basil pretty well. They're a little harder than pine nuts, so you'd probably want to pound them a little finer. Pistachos would also be a good choice, but they're almost as expensive as pine nuts.