Marinara Sauce

Marinara sauce was a staple in my house growing up. There wasn't a Sunday morning that my mom didn't have a pot of sauce on the stove. She cooked her sauce for hours with meatballs or sausage in it. I have updated my mom's recipe to make it a little healthier and use it for everything that calls for sauce (pasta, homemade pizzas, turkey bolognese or any recipe that uses sauce). This is a very simple recipe that only cooks for 1/2 hour and is sweetened with carrots instead of sugar. I like to make a double batch and freeze in small containers to pull out when needed.

Ingredients 
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion chopped
4 cloves garlic chopped
2 containers of tomatoes (I like Pomi)
1 medium carrot shredded
small bunch of fresh basil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Heat olive oil in a large pot, add the onion and garlic and saute until softened. Add the tomatoes, carrot, basil, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes. If it is too thick, you can thin it out with a little water. I like mine to be thick so I don't usually add much water, if any at all. Let cool. You can serve this as is and it would be a little chunky or you can use an immersion blender and smooth this a little. I've done it both ways and they are both good!