Nomato Sauce (Night Shade Free) and Meat Balls

When I became vegetarian at the age of sixteen I first tried to transform the foods I was used to eating to vegetarian foods. Like meat balls to soy meat balls and so on. I then learnt that vegetarian food doesn't have to imitate the meat foods. I went through the same process when we left gluten out of our diet. And then dairy. And eggs. I tried to make allergen free equivalents of the foods we missed. I then learnt that I don't have to try to recreate the foods from our previous diet but can create new ones.

We avoid night shades and I don't really miss tomato sauce but it still for some reason felt appealing to make grain free pasta with meatball sauce. I thought it might make the kids happy. I googled for some nomato sauce recipes like this one and this one.

I have a hard time following recipes so after reading them I put the recipes away and using same ingredients came up with this recipe. I used some pureed pumpkin I had in the freezer from Halloween when I couldn't bear throwing away the uncarved pumpkins but roasted and pureed them and froze them in one cup portions. They are handy when baking pumpkin bread and pie or cooking soups and stews.

The fire truck red nomato sauce was approved by some members of the family. Meat balls were approved by all. We ate them with spaghetti squash. Read how to prepare spaghetti squash here.


Meat balls
Grain free, gluten free, egg free, dairy free

1/2 lb ground pork
1/2 lb ground beef
1/4 cup home made coconut kefir (or coconut milk or apple sauce could work too)
2 tbsp coconut flour
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp salt

1. Mix all ingredients by hand in a bowl.

2. Form meat balls and place them on a baking sheet (one with edges) on parchment paper.

TIP: To get same size meat balls, take the meat ball mixture and roll in a long log on a cutting board. Cut it first in half, then the halves in half and so on until you have right size pieces. Roll them in balls.

3. Bake in 350F for about 20-30 minutes or until cooked (the time depends on the size of the meat balls).


Imitation Tomato Sauce
autoimmune paleo, night shade free

1 tbsp of a fat of your choice (coconut oil, bacon fat or lard are good for frying)
2 cloves of garlic
A piece of celery
1 cup of pureed pumpkin
1 cup home made broth
2 big carrots, chopped
1 beet, chopped
1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp maple syrup
1 tsp salt
fresh herbs: basil, oregano and thyme


1. Melt the fat in a sauce pan.


2. Sautee garlics and celeries for a bit. You can leave them in bigger pieces as you will puree the soup later. In this way they don't burn either.


3. Add broth and pureed pumpkin, carrots and the beet.

4. Add vinegars, lemon juice, maple syrup, salt and herbs.


5. Let simmer until carrots and beets are soft.


6. Puree in a blender. Be very carefully as it is hot.



7. Add the meat balls in the sauce. They can also be served separately.