THe VeGeTaBLeS THaT DiDN'T WaNT To Be a SauCe

Today I started taking a look at all my beautiful vegetables - in the bowls on the counter, in the refrigerator - and noticed that they were starting to turn.  I had to do something with them because it would have been a horrible waste of gorgeous vegetables to just throw them out.

I had tomatoes ... a bell pepper ... a bunch of those baby sweet peppers in red, orange and yellow ... some organic green onions.

After I chopped the tomatoes up, I put them in a bowl and sprinkled them with some fresh cracked pepper and coarse sea salt, then let them sit for about 10 minutes (while I cut the other vegetables up).

I decided to use all of those, plus an onion, several cloves of garlic (we are some garlic lovers in this family) and half of the grape tomatoes that I've been snacking on obsessively (I can't seem to walk past the container of them without grabbing two out).

I took both kinds of tomatoes and put them in a pot with the garlic, olive oil and some Italian seasoning; then poured enough water over them to cover.  I put them over medium heat, covered, until they started to break down.

When they started breaking down, I took the onions and sauteed them in a pan with 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil.

When they started to get a little soft, I added in the bell pepper, the sweet peppers and the green onions; sauteing them until they became tender.

I added these two pictures so you could see what the tomatoes look like broken down.  

At this point, it is time to add the vegetables to the broken down tomatoes.  I then covered the pan and allowed it to cook on medium for about 20 minutes.  (Boy did my living room and kitchen smell GOOD!!)

Seasoned with salt and fresh cracked pepper ... but it wasn't the sauce that I wanted it to be.  It was a vegetable soup ... which I was perfectly ok  with ... it was yummy ... but it needed something.

After looking in the pantry (and having my mother take a taste), we decided what it needed - a 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano.  It turned out ABSOLUTELY delicious!! ... even if it wasn't sauce haha.