Abundant tomatoes..what to do with them all?

Welcome to Lakelin Reach Urban Homestead. It's late August and everything is over flowing and some things, like our tomatoes are requiring daily harvesting and processing.

 

Now I'm questioning whether 16 plants was too many for our family of 10, well actually, soon to be a family of 8 living in our home now that Alyssa, our oldest is in the U.K. and Mitchell is off to University on this weekend. Did you know that 8 is a prosperity number in Chinese culture? Well I'm certainly feeling prosperous....in TOMATOES!

So this summer I'm asking myself how is the best way to process them for our family's needs in the quickest and freshest way possible.

Thank heavens the little ones love to pick them daily.

Kathryn and Victoria love to run and get their bowls when they know we are going to the garden. The tomatoes have done really well in this location as they receive ALL day sun...and although I did stake them (so I could write down the name of the tomato on the stake) I also have the pool fence behind them which allows for great circulation and I easily pick and prune them from both sides of the fence. They get eaten too by our tomato loving, pool going kids.

But after the little ones are tucked away for the night, I have a kitchen counter covered in tomatoes. 

What to do?

Well last year I got into canning them and each evening I made tomato sauce and filled my jars and was so happy at the end of summer as my laundry room shelves (yes that is where I put my preserves....hey it's close to the kitchen and looks old fashioned with my bead boarded walls etc) were full.

But you know what?....in the middle of winter when I was making my soups, stews, casseroles, spaghetti and pizza sauces, I wasn't using my canned sauce as much as digging in my deep freeze and pulling out the many bags I had stowed away when I finally got too sick of canning. Hmmm.

So this summer, with all the family stuff going on, I decided to freeze my tomatoes...but with a twist. Have you tried this with your tomato harvest? It's so easy, why isn't it done more often?

All you do is cut up your tomatoes in the size that your family likes in soups, etc and you put them in a large baking pan. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil over the tomatoes, add some garlic, basil, oregano. I was really smart this year and put a planter of my Greek type herbs, which I use the most on my front porch, it's pretty and useful. It has saved me countless steps to our garden as well. I love to just go out and snip what I need and sprinkle them freshly on whatever I'm making in the kitchen.

Oh my, just thinking of that has firmed up what we are having for dinner. Greek Salad, Chicken and lemon with dill, baby size potatoes, fresh from the garden. My oldest daughter Alyssa put us onto Greek food after spending a month in Turkey and Greece 2 years ago and now I can't get enough of that fare. I'm so glad that the weather in the Okanagan is perfect for growing peppers, cucumbers and of course lots of tomatoes!  Sorry, I got side tracked talking about herbs. Back to processing..

Okay, here is what the tomatoes looked like before I put them in the oven at 250 degrees for a hour.

 
And this is what they looked like after marinading in the oven...the smell in the house is divine!

Now normally I cool the tomatoes and then pop the whole baking tray into the freezer over night and in the morning I put the frozen tomatoes and herbs into freezer bags. For the sake of this blog, I just cooled them and put them directly into bags. I like freezing them first and then put them into bags as they separate easier when I open the bag in the middle of winter. I can just pull out what I want to use for my soups and stews. (note if you don't like the skins on you will have to remove them before you stew them in the oven...but we don't mind the skins)

The thing I love about this method is the tomatoes are already seasoned AND it's quick. I'm going to can some as well but I was so happy with the results that I wanted to share another way of processing the tomato harvest. Peaches are on my door step and suddenly I'm realizing that I want it all but I want to put it away as quickly as possible. What is your favourite way to process your tomatoes?

 

 I think in this picture to the right...even my little one Kate is wondering what we are going to do with all these tomatoes...and she and her twin sister, love to eat them whole. I have never had any of our children who cared for tomatoes as little people...unless they were on a cheese pizza. These are my veggie babies.










The picture below is a heritage tomato, called the Ox heart...I'm growing it for the first time this year. The tomato is heart shaped when you cut it and has few seeds making it a great BIG sauce tomato.

If you are new to living sustainably, growing tomatoes is the first thing I would recommend planting since you can do it in a small space, perfect for the urban farmer. And it's so rewarding at the end of summer to slice into a juicy tomato and make a sandwich, or a delicious Greek salad, ...or as my little veggie loving babies, eat it right off the vine. Nothing says summer better than a tomato. What kind do you like?



Until I see you again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope