What does summer mean to you? – Neighbors, friends, family, strangers offloading garden abundance

Oh yeah! I haven’t had a garden since I was little, but it never fails that at some point in the season, there’s somebody who is desperate to get rid of dozens of tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, or whatever else they planted far too much of.

In this case, a friend of the family steadily supplied us with tomatoes all season long last year. Whatever we could pick, we could have, as they were already over run with picking their own and for family. And there was always tons left even after we walked away with bags’ full.

Aren’t they gorgeous? Yum.

And that giant above? His skin was a bit tough, but he peeled and sliced nicely into large steaks of tomato.

And in case you’re wondering how to use up a large amount of tomatoes in a short amount of time, turn ‘em into pasta sauce. I made my life easier by mass blanching, peeling, and slicing all in one go.

 

Tip: Stand at a low-sitting table or countertop (this works especially well if you’re short like I am, so you don’t strain your back leaning over). Place the cutting board on the edge and scoop the tomatoes and sauce directly off into a bowl or crockpot on the floor. Don’t worry, you can transfer it all to another dish after, if you’re squeamish about your floors being dirty.

Although if you’re squeamish, I wouldn’t recommend this anyway, because uh, you may get tomato juice between your toes. But it makes it so fast! Hehe.

See? It’s a mess, but from left to right, I had an entire baking sheet of blanched/peeled tomatoes, the cutting board I was using, the diced tomatoes were scooped forward toward myself and the tops pushed to the side. You can also see a crockpot I’d already filled, my laptop, various drinking options, a basket of produce, and the slotted spoon I used to dip out the tomatoes in the background.

I kept blanching continuously until I made it through them all, chopping and dicing during the minute they were in the water. I was through them in no time, but boy did it look a mess for a bit, ha.

Comments

  1. Leave a Reply

    Lisa Ladrido
    July 25, 2011

    Those tomatoes look delicious! It may have been a lot of work but I am sure it was all worth it! I love fresh gardens. We are in the process of clearing our pastures, but would have loved to have had a garden this year. Visiting from VoiceBoks! Lisa

    My Blog
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  2. Leave a Reply

    Spilled Milkshake
    July 25, 2011

    Those tomatoes are gorgeous! There is just not much better than fresh tomatoes. One of my favorite parts of working in home health was that many of my patients would give me their garden excesses. We would have fresh vegetables all summer without the work of a garden lol (I am a BAD gardener). I really miss that this summer!!

    Christina

    Visit me at Spilled Milkshake

    P.S. Visiting from voiceBoks!

    ♥ xoxo

  3. Leave a Reply

    Rosann
    July 25, 2011

    I love tomatoes and tried to grow some cherry tomatoes and roma tomatoes in big planter pots this summer. It hasn’t been the success I’d hoped, but I do have tomatoes to eat off the plants so I can’t complain. A friend of mine said her tomato plants are going nuts and she plans to share some with me when they’re ripe. Thanks for this post! Now I have an idea of what I’ll do with all the tomatoes!

    Many blessings,
    Rosann
    http://www.christiansupermom.com/

    *visiting from VB

  4. Leave a Reply

    Mommy LaDy Club
    July 26, 2011

    My favorite is tomato and mozzarella salad! This looks like you had a blast,and I love your plain pasta dish post too. Would you mind if I post one of your recipes on our CEO page, and link back to it sometime?
    Cheers from vB,
    Courtney
    http://www.mommyladyclub.com

  5. Leave a Reply

    Olusola
    July 26, 2011

    Now that’s a big tomato. I can’t eat raw tomotoes but that didn’t stop me trying my hand at growing my own tomatoes las year. Love what you do with food. Thanks for stopping by mytwintopia.com blog

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