Tomatoes, Tomatoes, Tomatoes

If you have a garden, this time of year can be tomato overload.  Hopefully, even if you don't have a garden, you are benefiting from somebody else's tomato overload:)  I have a date planned with friends for them to show me how to can tomatoes, but in the meantime, I've been freezing and drying.

Frozen Stewed Tomatoes
This is a great way to have BPA-free stewed tomatoes from your garden to use in the winter when making any recipe that calls for tomatoes.  If you have an over abundance of zucchini, peppers, eggplant, carrots, or any other veggie, you can shred them and add them to the tomatoes while they are cooking.  For example, in past years, I've had extra zucchini, peppers, and tomatoes.  I shredded the zucchini, chopped the peppers, and cooked it with the tomatoes and used it during the winter for both pasta sauce and chili base.

Cut cherry tomatoes in half (if you are using cherry tomatoes) and put them in a crock pot.

For larger tomatoes, bring a large pot of water to a boil.  To a large bowl, add ice and water and place near the pot of water on the stove.

When the water is boiling, carefully drop 6-7 tomatoes into the pot.  Boil for about a minute or remove them right away if the skins start to crack.  

Place the boiled tomatoes into the ice water bowl. 

After the tomatoes have cooled in the ice water for a minute or two, the skins remove very easily.  Remove the skins and some of the seeds if you want, and chop the tomatoes in one inch chunks.  Place the tomatoes into a crock pot.

Cooking time and temperature depend on your plans for the day and the temperature of the crock pot. If you want the tomatoes done faster and can check on them in a few hours, cook them on high.  If you are going to be gone all day, cook them on low.  I cook them until they look like a can of stewed tomatoes:

When they are done cooking, let them cool, and place them into glass jars with lids.  Leave at least an inch of room from the top of the jar for them to expand when freezing and place into the freezer.

Dried Tomatoes
Another use for tomatoes is to dry them for later use.  Drying them condenses the flavors and they are soooo good and it's so easy! It works for cherry tomatoes or large tomatoes.

For cherry tomatoes, cut them in half and place them on a dehydrator sheet.  For large tomatoes, cut them into 1/3 inch slices.

My dehydrator setting says 135 degrees for drying fruit, so that's the temperature I used.   Drying time depends on the size of the tomato-for cherries, it takes about 24 hours.  For larger tomatoes, about a day and a half.  Check them, and if they aren't dry, let them go longer.  Here's what they look like when dry:

When they are done, place them into a covered storage container.  I keep them in the fridge.  When you want to use them in a recipe, boil some water, and rehydrate them for a few minutes.  Yum!