Did Someone Say Italian?

We love Italian food. We make different types of Italian recipes at home all the time. I learned quite a few recipes from my husband’s Italian family. Homemade Italian food is soo good. 

To make heart healthy sauce I no longer buy jarred marinara sauces. I make it from scratch at home. I use “no salt” (very important to keep it low sodium because lot of canned tomatoes have lots of salt) Italian tomatoes to make the sauce. I used a pack of Italian low salt Gnocchi. So, it’s healthy and tasty.

Below is a recipe of gnocchi with homemade marinara sauce that I made for dinner.

I paired it with an easy homemade bruschetta on the side. 

"Buon appetito!"

🍅 Homemade Marinara Sauce

Servings: About 4 cups
Time: 30–40 minutes

---

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 3–4 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 can (28 oz) of no salt Italian crushed tomatoes
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• Few fresh basil leaves ( I use fresh ones from my garden) or you can use 1 teaspoon of dried basil
• 1 tablespoon of milk to counter the acidity (an old Italian trick that grandma’s use)
• Pinch of red pepper flakes (optional, for heat, we love spicy)
• 1 pack of Italian low salt Gnocchi
• Fresh basil for garnish (optional)

---

Instructions:

1. Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add chopped onion and cook until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.
2. Stir in the chopped garlic and sauté for 30–60 seconds until fragrant (don’t let it brown).
3. Pour in the crushed canned tomatoes and all the spices
4. Simmer for a few minutes, then add the packaged Gnocchi. Don’t precook the Gnocchi even if the package says so. The Gnocchi will cook in the sauce. It tastes better this way and does not taste overcooked.
5. Lower the heat and let the sauce simmer uncovered for 20–30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it thickens slightly and the Gnocchi is fully cooked.
6. Serve with fresh basil on the top.

🥖🍅 Easy Bruschetta

Servings: 4–6
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes

---

Ingredients:

• 1 baguette or Italian bread. I keep these at home all the time.
• 3–4 ripe tomatoes, finely chopped (Roma or cherry work well)
• 1 small onion
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (plus more for drizzling)
• 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder (make sure not to use garlic salt, use pure garlic powder). I always keep Costco’s pure garlic powder at home or you can use few cloves of fresh garlic too.
• 6–8 fresh basil leaves, chopped or torn

I usually make bruschetta in the oven. But in this heat I am not turning on the oven.

I used a regular toaster to toast the bread. 

Mixed all the above ingredients together in the bowl. 

Then put a spoonful on top of each slice of toasted bread and it is delicious.