Tomatoes

My mom always told me that she craved tomatoes while I was in utero. (I don't know that that is actually a word--it doesn't recognize it.) Anyway--that could explain my immense LOVE for tomatoes. We grew two different kinds this year--roma and big round ones. Our roma tomatoes are growing like crazy! We have probably picked over 60 in the last couple weeks, with many more still on the plant. Our others, the big round ones, are just starting to turn orange-ish red. By the way--Joel read that in high temperatures, about 90 degrees, its okay to pick tomatoes once they're orange-ish yellow--because they'll ripen well indoors. We have found that to be true!
Besides eating a bunch, we are freezing as many as we can. The pictures above show tomatoes after boiling the skins, and then after removing the skins. Into the freezer bags they'll go!

I will also make salsa again this year. We found an amazing salsa recipe, thanks to my friend Abby Clark. The other way I like to eat tomatoes is in salad--here's an amazing one from my sister-in-law, Karla:

Tomato salad (I really don't know what it's called)

Cherry tomatoes (or just cut up chunks of other kinds)
Chunks of mozarella cheese
Fresh basil torn or cut into smaller pieces (come to our house if you need some--it's taking over our garden!)
Red onions, cut up

*Now, I know Karla used a certain dressing on this--maybe balsamic vinaigrette? But I use anything--like Italian, or Sun Dried Tomato--they're all good. Just toss together, add a bit of dressing, and enjoy!