Substantial but Super Quick Pasta Sauce

My kids really like pasta with a tomato sauce that is basically just plain, pureed tomato, or with a bit of garlic and the like that they can’t see.  One of the few “packaged” meals I’ll give them, that is very handy instead of eating absolute junk, is pasta with a jar of pasta sauce – and you can get both of these as organic from the supermarket.

But I will sometimes feel like a more substantial sauce.  So here are my two variations.

1) Fry an onion, some sliced/chopped eggplant and some zucchini, then mix in some of the basic tomato sauce.  Perhaps add some olives too.
OR

2) Grate half a firm block of tofu.  Fry this in a little oil in a non-stick pan until its starting to go a little brown in some parts.  Add a grated carrot if you have one to use up, but I am often rushing when cooking this meal, so it ends up just being the tofu.  Mix in some of the tomato sauce and heat through.  This makes the sauce a bit more substantial.

These are also really good done with Roasted Tomato Sauce as the base, and as long as you have half an hour to let the tomatoes sit in the oven, the actual preparation is almost as quick as searching your pantry for a can of tomatoes and opening it.  See the menu for the recipe.