Tomatoes

We started collecting tomatoes....too many for John to eat on sandwiches so I had to think of something to do with them.  I use lots of canned tomatoes in my cooking, so I thought I'd try using the fresh tomatoes instead and try out a favorite recipe.  I first had to figure out how to cook the tomatoes to get them soft like canned tomatoes.  You can find anything online so I searched.  First I boiled water.  Then I sat all of my tomatoes in boiling water for about 1 minute.  Then I plunged them in ice water to stop the cooking process.  Next I made 4 small slits in the bottom and the skin peeled right off!  Next I cut them in half and de-seeded them.  I put them all in a big stock pot with some olive oil, fresh basil and oregano (from my garden) that I had chopped finely in my food processor.  I let them cook on medium for about 30 minutes.  Next I wanted to spice it up a bit and use up other veggies that I had on hand (I totally made this recipe up...except for the first part)...I added diced squash, yellow and green pepper, onion, carrot, and garlic to my food processor (love that tool) and added the veggie mixture to the tomato mixture.  I added 1 tsp of sugar, salt, pepper, italian seasoning, and some organic tomato paste.  I let it simmer for 1-2 hours while I prepared the rest of the meal!  Geez...it took me forever!  Next I peeled and sliced the eggplant from my veggie co-op and dredged it in an egg mixture and then flour.  I fried those pieces in oil until brown.  I layered a dish with the eggplant, topped with homemade red sauce, fresh parmesan cheese and mozzarella.  Baked for 25 minutes.  I put the eggplant parmesan over whole wheat noodles and then drizzled it all with more red sauce!  It was so good!!!!!  John loved it and so did the kids!  It only took me 4 hours to complete the whole meal!  Tomorrow we are ordering pizza....HA HA HA...just kidding sort of!  So here are the pictures...you knew I would have pictures!

Veggie Co-op

I joined a veggie co-op this past month where you pay a lump sum and then once a week you get a delivery of fresh veggies from the organic farm.  You do not get to pick which veggies...its what they harvest that week.  They have all kinds...and luckily we like all veggies.  The farm is in Quincy and they were super nice, very customer friendly and in my opinion it is a good deal.  I paid $200 for 12 weeks of fresh organic vegetables.  My first pick-up was last week.  I got 5 huge squash, 1 zuchinni, 5 tomatoes, 2 heads of lettuce and 2 cucumbers.  So far we have loved it and I love knowing who grew my veggies.  The kids and I got a kick out of going to pick them up and being surprised at what we got.  Tomorrow is 2nd pick up.  YAY!

My yummy semi-organic dinner!

I thought what we were eating was Organic but come to find out....I have been deceived..(no surprise there)..the labeling of some of my products was confusing to my simple mind but it was so yummy and very healthy....the pictures really don't do it justice.  I am in the process of trying to break my camera so John has to buy me a fancy camera to take pictures for my blog like the Pioneer Woman does....

Lean (vegetable fed) beef, sugar snap peas, mushrooms, carrots, broccoli, onions, carrots, water chesnuts, asian whole wheat noodles in organic (not sure about that but that is what it said) Hoisan Garlic Sauce.  The kids asked for seconds!