Recipes

[QVCkitty1]

A friend of mine makes homemade salsa.

[Allegheny]

If you have a separate freezer, you can freeze tomatos whole.  When needed for recipes (chili, a small amount of sauce, salsa etc) just pull out what you need, blanch in very hot water and peel off the skin.  

[IamMrsG]

I have made this juice and can attest to how good it is.  The Cook's Notes at the bottom are from the woman who shared the recipe.

SPICY TOMATO JUICE 

From Taste of Home   

Yield:  about 5 quarts

13 Lbs ripe tomatoes (about 40 medium)

2 Celery Ribs, coarsely chopped 

3 Medium Onions, coarsely chopped 

1 Medium Green Bell pepper, coarsely chopped 

1 1/2 cups Chopped Parsley 

1/2 cup Sugar or to taste

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce

4 teaspoons Salt or to taste

1/4 teaspoon hot Pepper Sauce

1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper

Quarter tomatoes, place in 6 qt Dutch oven.  Add celery, green pepper and parsley.  Simmer, uncovered, until all is tender, about 45 min., stirring occasionally.

Rinse 5 1-qt plastic containers w/ lids with boiling water.  Dry thoroughly.

Cool tomato mixture slightly; put through a sieve or food mill.  Return to pan.  Add remaining ingredients, mix well.  Bring to boil.  Remove from heat & cool.

Fill all containers to within 1/2” of tops.  Wipe off top edges of containers, immediately cover with lids.  Freeze up to 12 months.  Thaw frozen juice in refrigerator before serving.

*Cook's notes:  I made only about 1/2 a recipe of this, and we got nearly 1/2 gallon.   Since I had a mix of sizes of tomatoes (some even cherry tomatoes), the weight was only about 4 1/2 pounds.  Plus, I also added a sliced hot pepper from our plants and a little more Tabasco, so it was quite spicy.  Ours ended up pretty thick, which we liked, but don’t see why you couldn’t dilute it some if you’d like.  

[jlkz]

DH slightly cooks chopped fresh tomatoes and adds cooked sliced green and red peppers.  Then he freezes the pepper/tomato sauce in ziplock pint bags which he will later use on pasta with fish or other leftover meat.

I make huge batches of marinara sauce and freeze in pint ziplock bags.  Three batches / year.

[lovesrecess]

When I used to freeze tomatoes, I didn’t find they were any good unless I used them like canned ones. Canning tomatoes is super easy. Just use water bath like for pickles. They keep a long time and taste great in soup when the cold weather arrives.

[AuntG]

Salsa.

[mustang66lady]

@cinderford 

First be thankful you had such bounty.  We got ONE grape tomato from our vines and that was it.  I don't know how to can but I do know how to freeze.  I would make tomato sauce and cool down so as to be able to put in freezer bags.   Freeze flat and stack them after they are frozen,  Then you will have homemade tomato sauce for pasta, pizza or whatever thru the winter.   If it doesn't work out as you want, what have you lost?  Worth the try.

[Yahooey]

I made a tomato galette for the first time a few weeks ago when I was gifted some homegrown tomatoes.

I used puffed pastry on the bottom - spread a mixture of 1/2 head roasted garlic, thyme, salt, pepper, dijon mustard on the pastry

sprinkle with sharp cheddar or hard cheese of your choice

my niece makes it with mozzerella bc she likes the gooeyness

lined on top of cheese 1/4" slices of tomatoes - sprinkle with salt/pepper

I baked in 375 degrees for about 45 minutes - and NOT higer temps as suggest on the box

key is the preparation of the tomatoes - i sprinkle with salt and let stand for 15 minutes - it draw out al lof of the water which i dried with paper towels. When roasted - the tomatoes become sweet and the puffed pastry isn't soggy with the extra liquid.

[depglass]

I asked this very question last year when we were overwhelmed with cherry tomatoes.  I asked my plant friend to lighten up on the cherry tomatoes this year and we are keeping up.  I do have a Jack La Lanne juicer and have been running the extras through that for tomato juice.  Just pop in washed whole or cut up tomatoes, no need to take off the skins.  This should work with any brand of juicer. 

[1920712]

Both this year and last DH and I made tomato preserves. They are good on toast, cheese and crackers and just about any way that jam or jelly would be served. When I was a little girl, my mom would have me stay with grandma and grandpa while she was working. Grandma would make the most wonderful preserves using tomatoes, sugar, lemons and cinnamon sticks. This is her recipe given to me by my mother:

Tomato Preserves

5 Pounds (11 cups, quartered) ripe tomatoes

4 pounds (8 cups) sugar

2 lemons sliced thin

Scald, peel and quarter tomatoes

Add sugar and let stand overnight

Drain off juice and boil it rapidly until it spins a thread when    dropped from a spoon

Add tomatoes and lemon and boil until they are thick and clear.

Pour into sterilized KERR Jars and seal. (We also used a canning water bath for safety and timed it for 10 minutes.)

Grandma always used stick cinnamon in this recipe too.

This recipe made 6 pints for us. We made two batches, one with cinnamon and one without.

We did have a hard time getting this to jell and wound up using 2 packages of Sure Jell. There are many recipes on line for both tomato preserves and tomato jam that  were used for reference and tweaking.