Generally Jenny: Stewed Tomatoes & The Great Tomato Give-Away!

It's inevitable. The great tomato give-away begins each and every year around mid to late August. Either you planted a few tomato plants in your yard and now they are bursting with beautiful fruit that you and your immediate family couldn't possibly use or else people everywhere are generously gifting you with the ripened spoils of their gardening windfalls. I say that either way you are in a winning situation! Since our move last summer, I have yet to actually plant any vegetables and this makes me sad. Our last home had a gorgeous and huge garden where we got to grow our own tomatoes, peppers, onions, potatoes, lettuce, zucchini, watermelons, pumpkins, butternut squash, asparagus, cucumbers, beans...you get the picture. I now have a lovely space in my yard just waiting for the spring of 2013, so stay tuned for the coming new adventure!

Any-who, my hunky husband came home the other evening with some precious garden give-aways courtesy of one of his clients. Hooray! Hurrah! I love free stuff! Especially when we can eat it! So after a day or two of tomato sandwiches, tomato salads and tomato dressing, these beauties were just asking to be stewed down and put away in my coveted freezer to keep all of the other goodies in there company.

Years ago, a woman at a roadside vegetable stand convinced me to take a hamper of tomatoes for $5. I couldn't beat the price even though I had no idea what I was going to do with all of those tomatoes. Fortunately my Mom was visiting and she started immediately coring, slicing and dicing and soon my kitchen smelled great and I was filling the freezer with bag after bag of delicious stewed tomatoes. I used those babies on everything that year - in soups, pasta sauces, in rich beef stews, to top thick slices of fresh crusty bread, as a side for pan-fried pork chops and meatballs, and ladled over rice and macaroni and cheese...... Whoa! I am getting hungry just thinking about it.

So, whenever I have a few extra tomatoes on hand then this is definitely my go-to use for them. You can go to the trouble of peeling and seeding the tomatoes if you like, and I do on occasion, but if I'm in a hurry (or not in the mood) then it all goes into the pot - seeds, skins and all. Also, this recipe changes for me every time I make it as I will tend to use whatever vegetables and herbs I have on hand - onions, celery, garlic, peppers, zucchini, basil, thyme, oregano and, of course, salt and lots of fresh ground pepper. I will then list my ingredients on the freezer baggies so if I'm looking to make a pasta sauce I will use one with Basil and Garlic, if I am looking for a sauce to braise or stew chicken, I go with Thyme and if we're having tacos, fajitas or nachos, I pick one that's been stewed with jalapenos or chili peppers.

It's really about using everything you have and wasting as little as possible. There was a time when I am convinced we threw away almost as much food as we actually ate. Meat, produce and dairy sitting in the refrigerator until it was expired and we would guiltily add it to the weekly trash pick up. I knew it wasn't right and I decided to make a serious effort to change that wasteful and costly habit. It's actually been really fun to come up with ways to incorporate leftovers into a future meal or find quick and delicious uses for the odd carrot or 3 beets that are left in my fridge at the end of the week.

Wash 'em up!

Core 'em up!

Dice 'em up!

Cook some onions down in some delicious olive oil. Ahhh...smells good!

Add your tomatoes........

I used my garlic press to add the garlic but alternately you can thinly slice up a clove or two. Whichever way floats your boat!

Next comes the green pepper and basil stalks.

Lastly, add the chopped basil, salt and pepper.....and KEEP TASTING! It'll not only make your tummy happy but will let you know if anything is missing. Then cook it down slowly until all of the flavours are well blended and the consistency thickens up nicely. This is way better than the stuff in a can.

The day I made this, there was a little left over after portioning out my baggies so I pureed the last bit and used it to top homemade pizza dough along with some cheese, left-over chicken and veggies. We had a great meal and a healthy addition to my freezer stores. I love that!