what more tomatoes? your kidding right? no sir, i'm not.

tomatoes: round three

let me tell you, if you have never experienced oven roasted tomatoes, this easy recipe is for you... try it! yummyness!

i started by quartering my 'maters (this is redneck for tomatoes boys and girls). If you're using small romas, just cut them in half. anything larger, quarter them.

place tomatoes in a large bowl. drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. mixing with care until everything is coated.

arrange tomatoes in a single layer, skins down, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. mince garlic and sprinkle over tomatoes. drizzle a little more olive oil over the top.

place in oven (preheated to 325) and cook for 2 1/2-3 hours, depending on the size of your tomatoes. keep an eye on them after about 2 -2 1/2.

when the juices have dried up and the tomatoes start to get dark around the edges they are good to go.
so good... smell good, taste good, look good (well maybe that's pushing it), taste good... smell good, taste good...

freeze em, eat em, cook with em, puree for a spread...

num yummy tomato sauce

salsa making is done and there are still tomatoes, so now... fresh, homemade, num yummy tomato sauce.

start by cutting an X in the bottom of each tomato (about 20) and placing them X-side up on a parchment paper covered baking sheet.

mmmm... juicy ripe tomatoes
roast tomatoes about 30 minutes, in oven preheated to 375F, until skin begins to pull away at X. remove from pan and let cool...

when cool enough to handle, core each tomato and peel away skin, working over a nonreactive bowl to catch the juice...


while peeling tomatoes, saute in olive oil: 6 to 8 garlic cloves thickly sliced, 1/2 cup torn fresh basil, and 2 tablespoons balsamic or red wine vinegar...


add cut or crushed (with hands for fun) tomatoes to pot, add 1 teaspoon sea salt and ground black pepper, and simmer for one hour... you can't imagine how good this smells... if i had a smell widget for my blog i would let you smell it... heavenly...

when cooled, puree in food processor. label clean glass jars, freezer boxes, or bags. fill 2/3 full and freeze for up to 6 months...

summer goodness all winter long!





*if sauce is too acidic, add a little brown sugar to taste, just a pinch at a time

salsa... not just a hot latin dance

gamma and pawpaw came over tonight for pizza and salsa. we ate the pizza and made the salsa. and boy did we make salsa.

boy helped cut tomatoes. he cut the little green tomato that he picked himself. (don't worry he was using a butter knife while closely supervised)
then we cut more tomatoes, cause our garden decided to bless us with LOTS of late tomatoes.


add a little onion, cilantro (yum), jalapeno, and seasoning...

used the food sealer to bag it up to freeze. and 18 cups of salsa later we were done for the night... we have that much more to finish up tomorrow! oh, and lots more tomatoes where those came from.

i'm thinking of doing my first blog giveaway... tomatoes anyone?

Yum!

the garden

this is our first garden, wanted to plant one for so long... so this year we have 9 summer squash plants thriving and 17 tomato plants! i told dfl, who helped get it started, that was a lot. he assured me not all the plants would make it. ha!

squash anyone?

my sweet little squash

my first ripe tomato