Ways with Tomatoes - #2

The greatest challenge for many gardeners is not growing fruits and vegetables, but making use of the garden's abundance. This time of year is great for non-gardeners in the workplace. Extra vegetables and fruit mysteriously show up in break rooms and faculty rooms. Gardeners are desperate to share because they honestly get tired of all of the produce. One of my dad's co-workers shared kale, eggplant, corn, peppers, and some herbs with us last night. I don't know how to cook half of those items, but I'll have fun experimenting with them.

Our garden abundance is coming from the tomatoes. Earlier this week, I shared a Margherita pizza idea with you. Because I plan to be cooking with a lot of tomatoes in the next few weeks, I thought it would be fun to do a mini "tomato series" for you. We all need fresh ideas once in awhile, don't we?

My husband used to tease me about how I always needed to use a recipe when I cook. I'm learning from him and I'm not using recipes as often now. So, last night's salsa idea is only that - an idea for your overflowing tomatoes. I chopped up three medium-sized tomatoes, 1/4 of an onion, one jalapeno, one clove of garlic, and added some lemon juice, fresh-ground pepper, and a little salt. I thought it would need more pepper, but it was spicy enough for our taste. If you have ideas for using poblano and anaheim peppers, I would love to hear them. It's either that or we'll be making a lot of salsa and buying a lot of tortilla chips for a while.