Wednesday, August 29, 2012

TOO MANY TOMATOES? NO WORRIES!


August has been an amazing month for harvesting tomatoes in my backyard garden. I do have trouble keeping up, but I have several ways to use and save my tomatoes for the winter ahead. My favorite use of fresh tomatoes is to make gazpacho. ( See my previous blog for my recipe) Yum!!  Fresh tomato sauce to serve over whole wheat pasta is another simple use for fresh tomatoes.

Quick Fresh Tomato Sauce
1-2 tablespoons of olive oil
3-4 garlic cloves chopped
2 pounds of tomatoes cored and chopped small
1/2 cup fresh basil chopped ( I love basil!)
Pepper and salt to taste.
-Heat oil, add garlic and sauté carefully so as not to burn garlic! (2-3 minutes)
-Stir in tomatoes, bring to a simmer and cook stirring occasionally.
-When sauce is thickened and chunky remove from heat, and add basil, pepper and salt to taste.
-This makes about 2 cups of sauce!

The easiest method to store tomatoes for future use is simply freeze them. This works best with Roma or plum tomatoes. Core and place whole in a zip lock bag! When ready for use in soups, stews or sauces simply let sit on the counter for 5 minutes and chop while still frozen.
Purée is another easy method. Boil tomatoes with a little water process in a blender or food mill and pour into a freezer zip lock bag. Label and freeze.
The last way I use to save my tomatoes is to dry them. There is nothing like dried tomatoes added to winter greens stir fries, or used on home made pizzas! I have a dehydrator and cut tomatoes into 1/3 in thick slices. They go into the dehydrator at 125 degrees for about 9 hours. After this I store in a jar in the cupboard until ready to use.
I hope this inspires you to be creative with your delicious summer tomatoes!

Like these ideas? Visit my website to see more! www.heidicolella.com
Also you can like my face book page for more healthy living tips! http://www.facebook.com/HeidiColellaHealthCoach