AIP nomato sauce - blender tomato-sauce substitute from butternut squash and beets

Tomato disappears fast once you start AIP, and it takes half your weeknight dinners with it, the jarred marinara, the quick meatball night, the thing you poured over everything when you did not have the energy to think. This sauce is what goes in that exact spot. Butternut squash and beets, blended smooth, give this the color and the cling of a real sauce, and there is no nightshade anywhere near it.

The beta-carotene in this sauce is mostly squash's doing, the compound your liver eventually turns into usable vitamin A, useful for a gut lining and immune system both still finding their footing. Beets are where the folate in this sauce comes from, tied to how the body makes new cells, and their color is what turns the whole blend a deep, tomato-like red. Blending both vegetables together takes under a minute, about as much cooking as a hard day can ask of you.

Roast or steam the beets yourself if today allows it, or reach for what is already cooked, no judgment either way. Ladle it warm over whatever needs it, and let the color on the plate be the small, easy win it actually is.

Ingredients

• One 15-ounce can butternut squash puree (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 2 medium cooked beets (about 1/2 pound)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons coconut aminos
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt

Method

Put everything in the blender. Blend until completely smooth, about 20 seconds.

Taste and adjust the salt. Warm it gently before serving if you want it hot, or use it at room temperature.

Store in a glass jar in the fridge and use within 5 days.

Use it anywhere you would have used tomato sauce: over meatballs, spooned across roasted vegetables, alongside a meatloaf, or as the base of a quick braise.

A note on swaps: if butternut squash puree is hard to find, canned pumpkin puree works in its place and the author confirms it. This is a no-cook blender sauce, so it needs no appliance variation. The only heat is the optional warming at the end, which the stovetop handles in a couple of minutes.

*Adapted from asquirrelinthekitchen.com*