Yum. I have 4 plants but none are ready yet.

I don't have any recipe ideas... enjoy them while they're fresh!

One of my absolute favorite thing to do with fresh tomatos is to get some fresh mozarella, only ONLY fresh, slice both up and put them on a platter with basil. Pour some high quality olive oil, balsamic vinager and sea salt over and cover with plastic wrap. I stick that in the fridge to mingle for an hour, minimum. I then slice up some good bread, like a baguette, brush both sides of the slides with olive oil and toast.

Pile toast with tomatoes, mozarella and and basil and eat to your heart's content.

Now I'm really hungry.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

We did a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) a few years ago where we were getting an insane amount of tomatoes (like 10-15 lbs a WEEK) I started freezing them whole. You can boil them first for a minute or two or just freeze them raw. We'd usually cut them up and put them in those screw top freezer containers (I want to say Glad makes them... ) and then in the winter when we were making soup or stew or whatever, just thaw them and toss them in. We also made and froze a bunch of tomato sauce, which might be a better use for the cherry tomatoes. But I was very pleased with the results of freezing the tomatoes and it was way easier.

If you like salsa, that's also another great way to use up tomatoes and it could probably be frozen as well.

M

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The beatings will continue until morale improves

oh, yeah that's good stuff. The same ingredients also make a great grilled cheese.

fresh pico de gallo is a good tomato user too.

I was so hungry for it I just made a plate and the hubby and I ate the whole thing. Mmmmm.......

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

I like to slow roast tomatoes. They are almost like sun dried tomatoes. toss them in the freezer and use as needed.

4 lbs tomatoes
about 30 plum or 12 to 16 regular
1.5 tbl extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp sugar
.5 tsp kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper

cut them up in quarters or smaller.. (plum tomatoes in half) . toss them all together in the olive oil sugar salt mixture
and spread out on a cookie sheet
roast at 325 for 2.5 to 3 hours.

Awesome idea!!! I'll have to do that when the boy is home this weekend :-)

I will definitely be trying this one ...I go through tons of sundried tomatoes. Thank you!!!

I'm getting about a dozen a day right now.

cottage cheese and tomatoes for lunch.

cut them up and serve in pasta

salsa! need I say more.

Give to neighbors.

bruchetta.

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I'll be what I am
A solitary man

If anyone of you live within 30 minutes of Seattle I am happy to come take some of those off your hands.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

Part of the problem is that my 'reward' for collecting the neighbor's mail while they are out of town is ...I get any tomatoes that ripen on their 6 (large) plants while they are away!!!

Salsa is sounding like a good idea :-)

SALSA!!! With it, you can make Enchiladas, Chilaquiles, Tacos, Huevos Rancheros, etc. :)

I do this a lot too. Then after you are done roasting toss it with a few cloves of garlic, a handful of fresh basil into the food processor. Makes great soup hot or cold or toss with pasta :) I haven't frozen this but you probably could if you held the basil. If you don't like the raw garlic flavor you can roast it along with the tomatoes.


Oh, you might not want to roast them quite so long for that. Maybe 1-1.5 hours.

Sigh, we should all have such problems (my plants look good, knock on wood, but are far from producing any ripe tomatoes yet!). Here's a link to a recipe for tomato/goat cheese quiche that is really really good - I've made it many times:

http://www.recipelink.com/...00/0743202090_2.html

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http://thethighmasterroutetokona.blogspot.com

Tomato sandwiches! Tomato sandwiches! Tomato sandwiches!

I have a cherry tomato plant that is very healthy but I can't get one single tomato. It gets the little flowers but it never sets fruit. Anybody have any ideas what I am doing wrong.

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"It takes courage to do it, to be a runner. We all found that out a long time ago. Because it's about more than fatigue. It's about pain, and dealing with it for a long time. And its about resolve." - Quentin Cassidy

We used Miracle-Gro Flower and Vegetable Soil (although I guess tomatoes are really fruit). Our one plant has grown out of control, to the point where the song "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" starts playing in my head every time I walk into the back yard.

Thinking back to freshman bio, flowers but no fruit could have something to do with a lack of pollination ...but botany was never really my thing, so I could be completely off base :-)

There is some powder you can buy to help the fruit set. Also, don't water too much. I live in a hot arid climate and water no more than once a week. Too much water equals big plants and small fruit.

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I'll be what I am
A solitary man

Either freeze em, so you can make a sauce somewhere down the way.
Or make a sauce, It takes about 8-10 good sized roma tomatoes to make a sauce that will last about 5 servings.
The recipe for pasta sauce is simple.
8-10 tomatoes, salt, olive oil, pepper, splash of white wine, garlic and onion.
The next part is up to you,
spicy: toast some red chilli peppers,
sweet: saute carrots with onions,
just yum: lessen the amount of olive oil and saute the garlic with 2-4 strips of bacon (it's amazing),
and finally just stir in a fist full of fresh basil or parsley when it's all cooked out and ready for storage.
Salsas are also a good idea, but I suck at making em, and would rather make pasta sauce.

Tomatoes are self-pollinating, but sometimes they need some help. I sometimes flick the stem under the blossoms to jiggle them - some people even "buzz" their flowers with an electric toothbrush, but I haven't tried that yet. (!) Try the flicking first.

Tomatoes also won't set if it's too hot, i.e. above 90. Could that be the problem? If it's just the one plant, that's kind of odd, especially for a cherry.

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http://thethighmasterroutetokona.blogspot.com

I only have one plant so nothing odd there. It may be the heat. It has been close to 100 everyday for the last few weeks. I may try to move the plant inside and keep it in a sunny place. Do you think that will help?

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"It takes courage to do it, to be a runner. We all found that out a long time ago. Because it's about more than fatigue. It's about pain, and dealing with it for a long time. And its about resolve." - Quentin Cassidy

Ah, yes, that'll definitely do it. I know that here when we have high temperatures at just the wrong times (i.e. when there are lots of blossoms), nothing will set. You can try moving it inside - sometimes i figure there's nothing to lose when a plant isn't producing anyway. Maybe move it inside for a week or so, long enough for some tomatoes to set, and then you can move it back out. I generally think that indoor sunlight isn't enough for a tomato plant long-term.

I also read today that someone recommended when it's hot to spray a plant down with water a couple of times during the day if possible, and that's supposed to help fruit set. Hadn't heard that before, but again, that's one of those things that can't hurt.

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http://thethighmasterroutetokona.blogspot.com

I don't know about the setting above 90 thing. It is always above 90 here and mine set quite nicely.

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I'll be what I am
A solitary man

You must be lucky - it's pretty well-known that tomatoes have a tough time pollinating when it's below 55 or above 90. Doesn't mean they won't at all - just in general. Around here (midwest), a heat spell at the wrong time can definitely kill off blossom set.

If you google info on tomatoes pollinating above 90 there's lots of info about it. I think the premise is that the pollen clumps together rather than pollinating, so humidity might have something to do with it as well.

http://www.newsleader.com/...150303/0/LIFESTYLE07

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http://thethighmasterroutetokona.blogspot.com