tomatoes

Rice or pasta with chopped up tomatoes, peppers and onions with a little sour cream is one way I have been using up my many tomatoes

Fresh marina sauce - dice enough tomatoes for however many people you are feeding, add some olive oil, chopped garlic, fresh basil, pepper & a splash of vinegar. Simmer for 20 minutes. Serve over whole wheat pasta or for less calories, cook a spaghetti squash & use the strands as your "pasta". You can really add whatever you wish to the sauce - diced zucchini, chopped onions, spinach, etc. It also reheats well & can be frozen.

I just used up 5lbs of tomato making a homemade tomato basil soup. It was just tomatoes, olive oil, basil, salt and pepper. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, drop in tomatoes. Boil till skins split, then remove from boiling water and drop in ice water to stop the cooking and cool them off. Remove skins, should just slid right off and chop tomatoes into quarters, discard cores. Heat a tablespoon or so of olive oil in a pot. Add the tomatoes, 1/4 cup fresh basil, and 1/2 cup water. Cook this down for about 30 minutes. Remove from heat. Place in a food mill over a large bowl and slowly turn the handle to puree. Discard any remaining seeds, skins. Return pureed soup back to sauce pan and allow to simmer. This is a tomatoe broth type soup, not creamy like canned tomato soup. It is very low cal and good paired with a sandwich for lunch.

I made these last weekend and they were so good! Everyone loved them.

Quick Pesto with Broiled Tomatoes (from vegetarian times magazine)

Serves 8

Quick Pesto
3 cups basil leaves
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 cup olive oil

Broiled Tomatoes
4 medium tomatoes, cored and halved crosswise
5 Tbs. plus 1 tsp. panko breadcrumbs

Directions
1. To make Quick Pesto: Place basil and garlic in food processor, and process until finely chopped. Add pine nuts and nutritional yeast, and process 1 minute, or until pine nuts are finely chopped and mixture is paste-like. With motor running, add olive oil in steady stream. Process 1 minute more, or until smooth. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.

2. To make Broiled Tomatoes: Preheat oven to broil. Place tomatoes cut-side up on baking sheet. Spread each tomato half with 2 tsp. Quick Pesto, and sprinkle with 2 tsp. panko breadcrumbs. Broil 3 to 5 minutes, or until breadcrumbs are browned and pesto is bubbly. Serve as a side dish

Per serving:
Calories 84
Protein 2g
Total Fat 6g
Saturated Fat <1g
Carbs 6g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 12mg
Fiber 1g
Sugar 2g

If they're large, stuff them. Tuna goes really well with tomatoes - mix some tinned tuna with natural yoghurt or cottage cheese, and pile into the tomato shells for a protein packed lunch. Or little shrimp are a good alternative.

Make ratatouille - a french vegtable stew with tomatoes, courgettes (zuchinni), aubergines (erm...eggplant), onions garlic and loads of herbs. Mushrooms optional.