Wednesday, August 25, 2010

tomatoes, tomatoes everywhere

okay, so as I have told y'all many times, I really really like my CSA. reasonable prices, delicious produce and meat and so freaking convenient! but...except...sometimes...

well, sometimes they are out of the things I want. over and over again. they haven't had beef or chicken or eggs for three weeks running. and I don't really eat pork--it's not on principle or anything, I just don't really care for it other than as a breakfast food. I have actually only made porkchops ONCE in my life, by the way. but anyway...

so as my weekly CSA rolls around I find that I keep ordering gobs and gobs of tomatoes because I don't know what else to get. I mean, I have other produce, sure, but tomatoes always round it out.

luckily, my friend Maria posted this link yesterday about what to do with all those tomatoes. and there are a few recipes I'd like to add...

1. I call them mo-bas-tom sticks. It's an awesome appetizer. mozz cheese + fresh basil + cherry tomatoes or chunks of tomatoes all on a toothpick. You want to put the cheese on last and use it to dip in some balsamic vinegar. SO yummy. I have these at parties and by the end of the night they are always ALL gone. :)

2. smothered chicken. mmm mmm mmm. AND you can make it in your microwave! I often substitute the mayo for plain fat free yogurt (which also makes a cameo in my green smoothies). I change this recipe around a little, though. I don't use the tomato paste, I cut up a tomato or too and add them in. Sometimes I put 'em in a blender first to make 'em more paste-like.

3. this is on my top 5 list of meals I make that I LOVE. chicken with paprika sauce--mmmmm! I always add garlic to this dish. next time I make it I'm trying whole wheat egg noodles. this is a great dish for reheating, too. tum!

4. pasta with chicken, tomato and feta. another delightful use for tomatoes. and the abundant basil! yum!

and on that note--if anyone in my neck of the woods needs some basil PLEASE let me know. I have so, so, SO much. I even made homemade pizza (another good use of tomatoes!) this weekend and although I removed 2+ cups worth of basil from my plants it looks like I didn't even touch them!!

what are your favorite tomato-using-up dishes?

5 comments:

Renee B. said...

have we not given you the pulled pork taco recipe yet? it's amazing and NOTHING like pork chops. if they have pork butt or pork shoulder you should get some to make them! yum, yum, yum!

Sydney Fedesna said...

Sauteed zucchini and tomatoes is one of my absolute faves...it is about the only way I will eat tomatoes in pure tomato form :) And I am with Renee - if you can find a great pork recipe, it might change your mind. I really didn't care for pork chops one bit, but I have found 2 or 3 recipes that are great and now I actually prefer pork chops to chicken, etc. most of the time :)

Renee B. said...

pulled pork tacos you must try:

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/pulled-pork-tacos-00000000008021/index.html

care said...

the thing is that I am scared of making the pork recipe! I mean--if I dislike it like I've disliked so many other pork dishes, then I am either forcing myself to eat it or wasting food!

although I guess matt would eat it...

and thanks for sharing, renee! you showed me this once before and I thought to myself "hmm...I wonder how this would be with chicken..." :)

Jessica said...

I'm with Renee. Try the tacos, Matt will eat them, and then freeze the rest for Matt to eat later, but I think you'll like em. One of our faves is pasta with a sauce of sauted onion and garlic, canned artichoke hearts-UNdrained, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, basil, oregano, cumin, and crushed red pepper. I use canned toms or 2-3 fresh ones- so yummy! Let me know if you want the whole recipe.

 
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