Yummy Fresh Tomatoes!

Saturday I bought a huge box of Roma tomatoes from my favorite fresh produce stand, Oak Grove Farms. I only like the taste of "real" tomatoes (tomatoes when they are in season and can be bought at farm stands). I don't think the tomatoes that are sold in regular grocery stores taste anything like vine ripened. 

This time of year I go crazy with tomatoe making....sauce, bruschetta, salsa. I then can it so I can have some tastes of summer through the fall, winter and spring.

Sunday I made 8 quarts of tomatoe sauce. I don't really use a recipe but I can tell you how I did it this time.

1.  Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water for a few minutes so they are easier to skin.
2. In batches, toss the tomatoes in the food processer to chop up.
3. Put those batches into the crock pot (I used 2 crock pots to make these 8 quarts).
4. When you are done chopping the tomatoes, toss in garlic, onions, peppers, basil, oregan, sugar, salt and pepper into the food processor.
5. Divide this up between the 2 crock pots.
6. I also added 1/2 a large can of tomatoe paste to each of the crock pots. This thickens it up and makes it not watery.
7. Cook on low for 5-6 hours.
8. At hour 7, add 1/2 of large can of mushrooms.  (You can use fresh also but they weren't on sale).
9. Pour into jars and heat pack (I'll write another post on canning at a later date).

Here's what you get:

Enough sauce to last me till February!  Yummy Fresh Tomatoes!

I also made some bruchetta but had to use regular vinegar because I didn't have any balsamic. It tastes okay but not great. I'll wait til I get the right vinegar before I make that to can.