Soooooo I wanted a quick Marinara sauce for pizza this evening and figured I could use my Vitamix and Instant Pot to speed up the thirty-minute sauce to ten to fifteen minutes.

The strategy worked brilliantly!

Quick, Delicious (oooh and fat free!) Marinara Sauce

Turn the Instant Pot onto “Saute,” spray the pan with a bit of oil or broth and throw in…

• 1/3 cup finely diced onions

Once the onions have browned, add…

• 1/2 cup white wine

Stir around and let it reach boiling.

Meanwhile, add the following to the Vitamix and set on the “Soup” setting (this will precook it!):

• 1 28-ounce can whole plum tomatoes
• 1 6-ounce can tomato paste
• 3 cloves chopped garlic
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried rosemary
• 1 tsp salt
• freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1 tsp dried chili peppers

Once the Vitamix stops, add its contents to the Instant Pot.

Close the Instant Pot, set for manual at five minutes.

Once it finishes up, do a quick release and you’ll have a lovely Marinara sauce–enough for two pizzas and a big pot of pasta!

We used it for a delicious vegan pizza this evening–holy crap, was it ever good!! Note my Meltable Buffalo Vegan Mozzarella on top!

And here’s a Pizza Game Changer!!!!

Super-Thin Healthy Pizza Crust

• 3/4 cups (6 ounces) lukewarm water
• 1 teaspoon active-dry or instant yeast
• 1 TBS maple syrup
• 2 cups (10 ounces) unbleached whole wheat all-purpose flour
• 1 TBS vital wheat gluten
• 1 tsp each of  salt, basil, oregano, rosemary

Mix in a stand mixer until the dough forms a ball around the dough hook. You may need to add up to 1/8 of a cup more water. Let the dough rise for an hour or so in a covered bowl.  Divide dough into two equal balls and roll out on parchment paper. Let the dough rest for five minutes after you’ve rolled it out and then roll it out a bit further.

Do not pre-bake! Just dress it and bake for 15 – 20 minutes at  500 degrees.

Halfway through the baking time, turn the pizza and pull out the parchment paper, so the dough is directly on the pizza stone–THIS WILL MAKE YOUR CRUST SO DAMN CRISPY AND DELICIOUS!!!

If you prefer a white crust, the ingredients are….

• 3/4 cups (6 ounces) lukewarm water
• 1 teaspoon active-dry or instant yeast
• 2 cups (10 ounces) unbleached  all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp each of  salt, basil, oregano, rosemary

For the white crust, you need only 10 – 15 minutes. Don’t forget to turn halfway through the cooking time!