I LOVE TOMATOES!

With the Priddis/Millarville Fair last week I didn't have time to post a blog!  And this week....I'm going to cheat a little and post some of my favourite tomato photos.  It really is tomato season.  So if you love tomatoes but don't have time to deal with a case of them you can cheat.  Pull the green stem part off and put them in ziplocks and put them in the freezer.   That's it.  Really.   When you want to use them in sauce take out as many as you want and then run them under the water in the sink- the skin slips off and then drop them into the soup, pan, sauce etc.    If you have enough time you can also roast them.  Again pull off the green stem, lay them in a baking pan in one layer.  It needs to be deep like a roasting pan, not a cookie sheet.  Roast in the oven at 400 F.  The water comes out of the fruit and concentrates the flavour of the tomato in the remaining pulp.  You can put them in ziplocks after they cool or can whiz them in the blender first and measure out portions appropriate for your needs.   One of my tricks in the fall when I am super busy is that I buy a huge case of roma tomatoes- roast them, put them in big zip locks and then they are set to thaw and use to make a big batch of salsa on a chilly fall day.  

Greenhouse tomatoes and field tomatoes come in all shapes, sizes and colours.   Cherry, roma, grape, yellow, orange, striped, green, beefsteak, and on and on.   I have two all time favourites if you can ever find a Big Rainbow - they weigh at minimum a pound apiece, and have red, yellow, orange, peach stripes running through them.   One slice makes a doozy of a sandwich!

My other all time favourite is a very light green/chartruse colour with darker green stripes,  called Green Zebra.   The taste is tangy, zingy, almost reminds me of the ocean.  

My husband, kids and I started growing greenhouse tomatoes in 2003 when the kids were little.  We were given a CD of Connie Kaldor called a Duck in New York City which has an awesome song on it called "I Love Tomatoes." The kids and I would play it in the truck at top volume and sing along on tomato deliveries.  

I LOVE TOMATOES

I love tomatoes

I love tomatoes

You can keep your carrots and potatoes

I love tomatoes

 

I've got tomatoes in my pocket, tomato colored clothes

I carry a tomato everywhere I go

I've got tomatoes on my windowsill, tomatoes on my bed

I sleep each night with a tomato on my head

I love tomatoes

I love tomatoes

You can keep your carrots and potatoes

I love tomatoes

 

I love tomato cookies, I love tomato cake

I love tomatoes in my salad and tomato milkshakes

I like tomatoes in my cereal, tomatoes with my tea

I like tomato flavored toothpaste and tomato fricassee

 

I love tomatoes

I love tomatoes

You can keep your carrots and potatoes

I love tomatoes

 

I even go so far as to sing off key

And I sing so loud "la la la la la"

And I don't listen to the music "la la la la"

And then they start to boo and then they throw tomatoes at me!

"Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much..."

 

I love tomatoes

Oh, I love tomatoes

You can keep your carrots and potatoes

I love tomatoes

T-O-M-A-T-O

In my garden that's all I'll grow

Cherry or Roma, I love them so

T-O-M-A-T-O

 

"Faster now!"

T-O-M-A-T-O

In my garden that's all I'll grow

Cherry or Roma, I love them so

T-O-M-A-T-O

I love tomatoes

Oh, I love tomatoes

You can keep your carrots and potatoes

I love tomatoes

"I love tomatoes!  I just love tomatoes!  I love tomato sauce on my spaghetti and tomatoes on my pizza!  I love a wonderful tomato salad with just a little bit of mayonnaise!  I love BLT's!  Oh, I love tomatoes!"

 

from A Duck In New York City

©2003 Word of Mouth Music, Lac Laplume Music

Here is a taste of what it sounds like:    http://www.thesecretmountain.com/node/354