A Quick Solution to Those Ten, Fifteen Extra Tomatoes

My grandson got some free tomato plants this year that produced an abundance of tomatoes. There was a point back when I use to garden a lot that I found a quick and easy solution when you only have ten, fifteen ripe tomatoes and what to do with them quickly and efficiently. I never did can back then as it was only the three of us so freezing was a convenient option as I could easily go through the garden every couple days to pick and prepare what was ready to freeze while I was cooking dinner.

Making tomato soup and stewed tomatoes is pretty simple. I've made a bit more tomato soup then stewed tomatoes as it involves one less step. First you wash up your tomatoes, core them and cut out any bad spots on the skin...not like moldy bad or anything that gross, those usually made the compost heap not the colander. I get a heaping colander full and I know I have enough for a couple quarts of tomato soup. After you wash them you quarter them up and place them in a pot that you have melted about half a stick of butter with half an onion quartered also, be careful not to burn your butter or onion. When you quarter your tomatoes do it on a plate then add the juices from the tomato into your pan. When you are done add about one quarter cup water, bring to a boil then let simmer for about an hour so they get nice and soft. When you are ready to remove them from the stove have prepared a ice bath of water in the sink to quickly bring them down to room temperature.

When they reach room temperature place four cup fulls in a blender and puree.

When you are done with that pour the tomato soup in quart size bags.

Zip the bag almost shut leaving just enough space to fit a straw in the corner.

Suck on the straw until you remove excess air then remove straw and finish zipping shut the bag and place in freezer.

That's how easy it is to make tomato soup. If you want to eat your soup hot don't cool down the soup before placing in the blender but make sure you have a pressure gap in the top of your blender or remove the center cap of the top and place a towel over it before blending. You can even do this with canned tomatoes if you are out of canned soup but have canned tomatoes on hand. That comes in handy knowing if you want to make a quick goulash for supper but lack a couple cans of tomato soup but have canned tomatoes.

When making stewed tomatoes though you'll want to remove the skins first. The easiest way is to boil some water and make a ice bath. You'll place the tomatoes first in the boiling water for about a minute, remove with a slotted spoon then place in the ice bath to cool the skin. The skins come off easily, core your tomatoes, slice them up and place in a pot. If you want to add ingredients like onions, garlic, peppers, spices you may do so but have them ready before the process to heat them as you will only heat stewed tomatoes for about ten to twelve minutes before submerging in a ice bath to bring them down to room temperature quickly, then place in quart bags and freeze.

So far this year I am up to seven quarts of tomato soup and four quarts of stewed tomatoes...when I made the stewed tomatoes I added onion, green peppers and Italian seasonings...it smelled so awesomely fresh, it was incredible.

If not on sale a can of tomato soup can cost you seventy five cents to over a buck depending upon the brand and canned tomatoes are easily a buck a can if not on sale. Another money saving tip if you like to make pumpkin pie, bread or muffins during the holiday season is buy one big pumpkin and dedicate a couple hours to washing, coring, baking it by placing on a cookie sheet with water to keep it from burning or browning, or boiling it soft then remove the skins after it cools, place in a blender, puree, place in bags and freeze. I usually do two cups to a bag as most recipes call for fifteen ounces of pumpkin. The three bucks spent on a large pumpkin is a huge savings considering you pay three bucks for a fifteen ounce can of pumpkin puree. I can get roughly ten bags or more of two cups each from a large pumpkin.