What to Do with All These Tomatoes??? - Barrington,IL

I also have a bunch of tomatoes - I am planning to freeze. Here's what I do - I blanch them - just dip in boiling water for 30 seconds and the skin will just peel off - then I put them in can or freeze jars. Just pack them in tightly, leave a little head room and stick in the freezer. I really love to use these in pasta in the winter.

How about an grilled tomato and cheese sandwiches? Cold pasta salad with a vinegarette, tomato, broccoli, cuc and basil? Tomato with a feta cheese, basil and balsamic vinegarette on whole wheat toast makes a great lunch. Tomato and cuc salad.

I asked this EXACT same question last year on Mamasource, right around this time.

Bring them into work. Bring them to a food pantry. Freeze them. Make sauces with them. Enjoy them!!

Make soup and freeze it.

My favorite way to use a bunch of tomatoes is to make pico de gallo or salsa. Get lots of variations on recipes on allrecipes.com. Yum! In addition to eating it on chips, we use it in omlets, in chile, even on fish. It's delicious.

-Add them to grilled cheese (grill them right on the toast with the cheese)

-Chop up/Dice about 8-10 small-medium tomatoes, put in a large bowl, mix with 5-6 tbsp olive oil, 2 tbsp italian dressing, shake in quite a bit of dried oregano (or use fresh), shake in some dried basil (or use fresh), add some salt and pepper, dice one (or two if you love garlic!) clove(s) of garlic and add that in the mix, stir all together. Let set. Then boil water and make whole grain noodles (spaghetti, fetuccini, etc) and add the COLD mixture to the pasta once it is done. Serve immediately with parmesean cheese.

My fam loves these two dishes!

Best wishes!

I just found this out and didn't know it could be done. If you are strapped for time, just freeze tomatoes.

Wash tomatoes (especially if they are Romas). Let dry. Cut in half. Take out as much of the seed/liquid that you can scoop. Place in quart freezer, ziplock bags, squeeze out excess air. Place straw in very corner of bag and suck out rest of the air for a vacuum seal then seal. I just did a 1/2 bushel of peaches like this (although I peeled those) and blueberries. I couldn't believe how quick it was. Later, you can make sauces or stewed tomatoes for those cooler months.

Well, I don't have any recipes but if you have any that are still green, fried green tomatoes are delicious! Especially when topped with some jumbo lump crabmeat. Another option is to take some to your local church or your local food pantry and donate them.

Make into homemade spaghetti sauce or marinara and freeze for future use.

during the summer i can live on sliced tomatoes with salt and pepper...yum!

if you can't use them all call your local food pantry and see if they can use them....

My husband makes homemade tomato sauce w/ ours. It was fabulous last year!! We froze some to use on pasta in the winter. Look for an easy recipe on cooks.com. All I know is you have to peel the skin (after soaking them in water or putting them in a bowl of ice??), then I think boil them & add your ingredients.

I made this recipe last week. Not exactly low-cal but YUMMY. The kids even ate it: http://southernfood.about.com/od/tomatoes/r/bl90505b.htm

I didn't have vidalias and didn't bother with coring the tomatoes. Still yummy.

Here's another recipe I've been meaning to try: http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1750,147182-226204,00.html

We also sometimes make ratatouille with whatever veggies we have on hand - tomatoes, bell peppers, onion, zucchini. Served over rice and with lots of parmesan, the kids will even eat it.

My mother-in-law has a very simple thing I've learned to like. Slice the tomatoes and sprinkle with grated cheddar. You can either broil them or put them in a toaster oven - I'm lazy so I often just put them on a plate and then in the microwave for about a minute. Then serve with (or on top of) toast. It's also good as a side dish with eggs for brunch.

Some ideas.....

Appetizer
1 slice of tomato
1 basil leaf
1 slice of mozarella
a little oil olive on top

Tomato Cucumber Salad
Cut up tomatoes
Cut up cucumbers
Pour vinagarette dressing on top and mix

Make BLT sandwiches

http://www.ezrapoundcake.com/archives/3547

This tart is AMAZING!!!