Plethora of Produce, Part One

It's that time of year when all your produce comes in at once... Even if you don't have a garden, your local farmer's market should be swamped with goodies right now.  What should you do with it?  Well, I've got a few ideas.  =)

When I had a bunch of tomatoes this weekend, I made tomato sauce.  (Easier than you think!)

I started with these babies:

Aren't those some gorgeous love apples?  I happen to think so. (That middle one is a zebra variety.)

After a quick wash, I cut them in half, like so:

Then I squeezed out the seeds and pulp and roughly chopped them, leaving out the smallest section of core possible. Aside: Do you have one of these rimmed cutting boards?  I have a small one for produce, and it catches all the juice.  I have a larger one for meat, and it also catches all the juice. =)  They are fantastic.

See the tiny amount of core I leave?  You don't want to waste any tomato goodness, do you?  Then I put all of these tomatoes in a pot with their skins on.  (I'm all about easy cooking.)

Add a giant tablespoon of salt to get the water out of these love apples. Then, start to cook them down to a mush.  =)

 You can see the water that comes out very quickly.

It soon turns to tomato heaven.  :)  Once it cooks down, you can add flavors of your choice.  Simple is best for me, so I added a little basil, garlic, and red pepper infused olive oil at the end.  A quick pulse of the immersion blender for smoothness and...

Voila! Yummy goodness.

You can also freeze tomatoes whole or in slices, and then give them a quick zip under warm water to remove the skins later.  You could make salsa and freeze some.  You can also make this sauce and freeze it.  However, I intend to eat it this week. =)  Part two, with more produce saving ideas, will follow soon!