Hi Mamas,
I have a grandaughter who is allergic to tomatoes. Do any of you know what I can use to substitue chopped canned tomatoes in recipes?
Thanks everyone for your ideas. I tried the no tomato sauce using beets and it turned out pretty nice, except it was a little watery. A few of my guests enjoyed it. However, I found out after I made it especially for my allergic grand daughter that she was allergic to beets too! Oh, well back to the drawing board! Thanks again!
Try googling tomato subsitute. I do this whenever I am missing an ingredient and am too lazy to go to the store.
You are such a good Grandma!
Maybe red peppers and some balsamic vinegar???
And just wanted to say, how lucky yor grandchildren are,
my Inlaws have 7,live 10 minutes away and couldn't care less about their grandchildren,so good for you having fun with them!!!
it's going to be completely dependent on the recipe. Off the top of my head though, eggplant will give a similar cooked texture to tomatoes, but you would want to add something for acidity to get a reasonable flavor. Some kind of fruit might work for this.
I think a better approach is to think outside the box and not make a recipe that calls for tomatoes. (In my mind this is like someone who is vegetarian always eating meat substitutes, which I think is silly). I would check out the cookbook "Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone" by Deborah Madison. Don't be scared by the title - most of the recipes in here can easily be made non-veggie if you prefer some meat - but EVERYTHING in here is wonderful, easy, and she has so many great ideas about dealing with all sorts of vegetables. I'm sure you can get lots of good ideas about recipes that are maybe similar to what you are used to with tomatoes, but that don't have them. Check it out from the library.
My husband is allergic to tomatoes so I understand where you are coming from. I have found a no 'mato sauce and tweaked it a bit.
Boil chopped veggies for 30 minutes covered:
couple carrots
onion (he's also allergic to onions so I leave this out and use celery instead)
couple beets
and a bay leaf
with enough water to cover
cool and puree. You can use just this as a sub for plain tomato sauce or you can make an Italian sauce. To do an Italian sauce I saute garlic, green herbs (oregano, basil, thyme), green pepper, and onion in olive oil. Then add your base that you made and let it simmer together. Add water if you need to thin it to a better consistency.
We use this is in lasagna, baked shells, italian sausage, and a whole lot more. Enjoy!
