All of the sudden I have a lot of tomatoes in the backyard!
By a lot I mean about 3lbs which actually isn’t that much. But to me it’s a TON! Finally an opportunity to make tomato sauce as these babies won’t last forever.
Since anyone who’s home with one, two or more kids alone all day knows, time is of the essence when cooking, I found a 15 minute tomato sauce online and then VOILA I tried it! Even if you don’t have kids this won’t tie you up in the kitchen for hours. It DID take me longer than 15 minutes due to several adorable little interuptions (if you think hair-pulling, sitting on someone’s back or hurling a plastic cup at someone’s head is cute in any way). If they’re not doing that, you’re entertaining them whilst trying to cut X’s on the bottom of tomatoes.
Here’s what you need:
Actually, all you really need is some olive oil, tomatoes, salt & pepper. The rest is optional!
Ingredients:
- About 2 lbs tomatoes
- olive oil (better have a bottle!)
- 2-3 cloves garlic, minced (OPTIONAL)
- 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar (OPTIONAL)
- salt (to taste)
- pepper (to taste)
- fresh basil (OPTIONAL, but highly recommended!)
- crushed red pepper (OPTIONAL)
1. Boil a big pot of water or big enough to cover your tomatoes.
2. While that’s heating up – cut X’s in the bottom of all your tomatoes.
That might be a bigger X than is needed.
3. When water is really hot or has just started boiling, turn it off and put all the tomatoes in for about 2 minutes.
4. Ladle/spoon out the tomatoes into a colander where you can run some cold water over them to stop them cooking. (SAVE your hot water!!! You can use it for your pasta!!)
5. Peel the skins off (they should come off easily) and gently squeeze the seeds/juice out of each tomato. I did this over the sink so that the juice/seeds went down the garbage disposal. Don’t worry if you don’t get all the seeds out! You won’t die. And no, a tomato plant won’t grow in your stomach. Mash up the pulp with your hands and drop in a bowl. Hopefully you WASHED YOUR HANDS thoroughly before doing this but knowing you, you did!
6. Heat some olive oil in a skillet on the stove. Saute minced garlic on medium heat for a minute or so.
My kids started fighting and I burned my garlic. It still tasted good but burnt garlic is not ideal.
Add the mashed tomatoes. Stir. When you notice the mash separating from its juices, spoon the mash out back into that same bowl. (I hate washing dishes and try to use as few bowls as possible. I STILL end up with a ton of dishes though so obviously I’m doing something wrong.) Make sure your remaining liquid is bubbling but not crazily!! Just cooking away. Give it a stir every once in a while. When you notice it’s reduced enough that dragging the spoon through it leaves a trail, you are almost done! (I got this tip from the website with the original recipe and it’s very helpful.)
Add some salt & black pepper to taste. If your tomatoes aren’t tasty, add the 1/2 TBSP balsamic. If they’re really tasty ones you probably won’t need it. Add anything else you like: crushed red pepper, oregano, etc.
7. Turn that water you saved back on to boil your pasta. What pasta should you use? Whatever you have on hand! I like this kind of sauce with spaghetti and since I had some, oh boy!
8. Add the mashed tomatoes back to the liquid (that has now been reduced to a tasty pasty. (Nice!)
9. Taste. Does it need anything else? Add it!
10. When your pasta’s done – toss with sauce & some chiffonaded basil (correct usage??) If you don’t know what I am talking about, you need to watch more TV! Or just read this link about how to chiffonade basil. If you don’t have time or don’t give a damn, just chop your basil leaves long & thin.
Or, better yet, just throw in some full leaves!
Toss & put on a plate!
YUM!! This was soooooo fresh, tasty & sweet! I think my tomatoes are peaking right now. I did sprinkle a little fresh parmesan atop mine after I put the camera away but I’m sure you already thought of that.
I’d love to read about how it went for you if you try it!
Coming soon on Etsy…
Beautiful Bella!
Adorable Antonio!
Opulent Owen!
In the matter of a few months we found out our landlord wanted to sell the house we have been renting, so, rather than look for a new place, pack & move, we bought it, discovered we had TERMITES, cut a pesky avocado tree down before we could get the termite tenting done, exorcised a disgusting, overgrown, rat/possum den of a bird-of-paradise (thanks, Suzanne! NOT a banana tree as we boldly claimed) and then just went crazy and cut the hedges, gave the magnolia a buzz cut and the rest is history – the backyard went from a damp shady den of moist dog doo to the Sahara desert. (A few semi-colons probably would’ve worked nicely in that last passage, eh?)
Jasmin: SEE YA LATER!
LP: Sleepy!
(He’s cute!)
Avocado tree: AU REVOIR!
Nasty vermin filled bird of paradise: ADIOS!
Wait a minute? What’s that apartment building back there? I’ve never seen THAT before. D’OH!
There went our privacy & shade. But it’s worth it, right? Now we just need $700+ to remove the sap oozing stump.
But I digress…
In the course of all that we thought it’d be a good idea to go camping during the termite tenting. We didn’t want to go far on account of the backseat passengers and our nerves. So we drove up to Malibu – Pt. Mugu – and camped in our VW on the beach. Doesn’t that sound nice? Beach camping in Malibu? What could possibly go wrong?
Before camping we had to drop LP off at Cat Camp. He was excited about the early morning lake swims, hoisting the flag up the flagpole & archery.
His camp cost more than our camp site. That should’ve told us something.
This sign was posted in the door of the medical lab next door to the camp. Brilliant! I want to put this sign on my front door.
After discreetly tucking the Sit-N-Spin and Bop-It Extreme in my back pocket & getting back into the van, we headed up to the camp site with high hopes and a beach blanket.
Bea put her shades on.
Everyone got comfy in the van.
Our arrival. Looked pretty nice for car camping on side of PCH.
On the second level with the pop top up!
The view:
OK. Let’s go outside!
Bea can just sit on this nice blanket with a “toy.”
Maddie pretending to help with something. She is strongest at pretending to help.
Get back on the blanket, BEA!! Don’t eat sand, BEA! Don’t eat rockscigarettebuttsstringsplasticbbsrustybottlecapsfilthyurinesoakedsand, BEA!!!
Phew! At least Maddie is behaving. The wind picked up & blew the chairs over & anything else we had.
At least SOMEBODY stayed on the blanket!
This one’s for you, Lynchie!
The only way to keep Bea from putting everything in her mouth.
It looks nice in a photo in a brand new frame from Target but for how many hours is this really sustainable?
We give up. Let’s sit in the van. All 4 of us + the dog.
How many hours till bedtime?
Sand treasures:
Oops! That was all us!
One thing I cannot capture is the dusty filthiness of the sand. G advised everyone to wear shoes & socks and he couldn’t have been more correct.
After a sleepless night, we decided to high tail it out of there & possibly even find a better campsite for the second night. Everyone was grumpy.
We packed up
and high-tailed it out of there.
We drove to Ventura and ate at Toppers Pizza. I absolutely LOVED it!! Did I really love it or was I just so happy to be near hot water & soap, pizza and the chocolate chip pizza they claimed as their specialty? I don’t know and I don’t care.
On the way back we decided to take the scenic route through a canyon. It was warm and got warmer & warmer all the while. The girls fell asleep.
I tried to read.
What is an ague?
We kept driving.
We got out to stretch in a swarm of flies. We got right back in and drove right back to our same campsite from the previous night.
What I don’t have pictures of is the amazing cliffside playground/dog park G found high above the Pacific Ocean. Thank garsh, G!! We stayed there till around 7PM. Then it was back to the “beach.”
CIAO! And don’t say we didn’t leave you anything!
Not only did I neglect to take the 9 and 10 month pix, but I also dropped my camera and before Mandy sent a loaner over, I took these w/out being able to see but a general outline/framing of the shot. They’re not that bad I guess!
why don’t I put the oven on to 375 for an hour or so?
What was I thinking? My friend posted a recipe for quinoa stuffed squash on my Facebook wall (DANG another plug for Zuckerberg! You haven’t won YET, Zuckerberg!) and, having only multi-colored peppers (on sale at Ralph’s for $1 each!) I decided to stuff some peppers. All I thought about was the lightness, the sweet & the crunch. Not the HEAT.
But I digress… these came out AWESOME!!
After being inspired by my friend’s squash version, I did use a recipe from Christie’s Corner to which I made some changes.
Here’s what you need:
and this:
(I always seem to forget at least one ingredient in the ingredients picture!)
First, pre-heat oven to 375.
INGREDIENTS
2 tbsp oil (canola, olive – whatever you have!)
1 onion (finely chopped)
1-2 stalks celery (finely chopped)
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 14-oz can diced tomatoes
1 can black beans, rinsed & drained
1 cup frozen or 2 ears fresh corn (if fresh, cut off cob)
1/2 cup grated carrots (or whatever you can bear grating!)
3/4 c quinoa
1.5 c vegetable broth
1 c grated cheese (swiss/gruyere if you can find it!)
Heat oil in sauce pan on medium-high heat.
Add chopped onions/celery.
Watch 2 year old rearrange silverware drawer with sticky hands.
When onions & celery are soft & translucent, add spices. It will get pasty & dry-ish so have your can of tomatoes ready to dump in! The original recipe said to use a 28 oz can but I didn’t read the directions so I used a 14.5 or whatever those smaller cans are. Do whatever you want! If you go for more tomatoes, it says to drain them first but I wouldn’t.
NOTE: Do NOT cut your corn off the cob onto a FLAT PLATE unless you feel like washing the kitchen floor afterwards.
Who is holding that corn up?
Add black beans, carrots, corn & 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa.
Now, stir it and if it seems to “dry” i.e. there’s no way in $#@@ that quinoa is going to cook (for those who don’t cook quinoa it is a grain that needs water the way rice does so think about that kind of liquid), add 1.5 cups of veggie broth. If yours has a lot of liquid, hold off on the broth! Mine needed liquid so I added the broth.
If you’ve never cooked quinoa, how do you know when it’s done? Easy – it will have these tiny white “threads” coming out of each grain. You can also taste it and I recommend you do taste it! It should have a pleasing crunchiness. Not to be confused with a bad crunchiness, signaling the need for longer cooking time. The threads look like this:
Now, prep your peppers. The author of Christie’s Corner cuts her peppers sideways so they won’t fall over but I just can’t make that radical move. Instead, I cut just the tips off the bottoms of the peppers to make them flat. See, like this?
Don’t go crazy with this! You don’t want holes in the bottom or your filling will come out. But now that I think about it, who cares? It’ll be good and the filling won’t come out b/c it’s standing up anyway.
See how it stands up:
I didn’t tell you this but you should’ve cut the tops off the peppers first. Don’t cut too close to the stem or it’ll fall out of that pretty ring. Or do. It really doesn’t matter!
Scoop out the seeds/innards & throw into the compost! (If you have a yard & want to start composting – let me know!)
Hold onto the cute little tops!
Now add 1 c grated cheese. I can’t recommend the swiss/gruyere combination cheese enough. The gruyere has so much flavor that you don’t need that much which keeps the dish healthier and the swiss keeps it from being too rich/overpowering. Add salt & pepper to taste & stir really well.
EXTRA:
I tasted the filling and didn’t find it spicy enough for my tastebuds but it was plenty spicy for the little monsters. So I separated about 1/3 of the filling into a bowl which I saved for the monsters. To the other 2/3rds (which I intended to stuff the peppers with) I added chopped jar jalapenos. Obviously you can add any kind of heat you like/have! Fresh is great but I am addicted to these hot jalapenos in a jar that I get at Ralph’s. Mezzetta Deli-Sliced HOT Jalapenos. Mmmmmmm…
Now stuff those peppers & put the lids on.
Stand them upright in a baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking oil. Cover loosely with aluminum foil. Bake about 25 minutes. Take out of oven, remove lids & add grated cheese to tops of peppers, put back in for 10-15 minutes.
Take out & serve. These would be good with some crusty bread. Maddie ate hers with a spoon with the pepper rings as a side. YUM I can’t believe how much flavor these have and they are a very light yet satisfying dish for the summer.
As a main course – probably 2 peppers per adult. I had a LOT of extra filling but it’s really good the next day too! Enjoy and please comment on my blog if you make this recipe especially if you altered the recipe at all. Thank you!
