All things tomatoes. "Inches Away From Perfection".

Tamara Nugteren


My garden needed to end a little early this year, due to a backyard project.  Actually, I needed to totally rip it out.  To anyone who loves to garden, tearing out vegetables in their peak growing season almost physically hurts.

My tomato plants were heavy with green tomatoes and I refused to waste them. I'm not a "fried green tomatoes" lover.  In fact, I don't even like tomatoes plain.  But I do really enjoy them in salsa, bruschetta, sauces and all other recipes.  But for this, they need to be ripe.   Not a problem - I'll just ripen them indoors.  Did you know you can successfully do this even with the greenest of tomatoes?  And it works fantastically.  You won't be ripping out your garden early, but you may still have a load of green tomatoes on the vine when the frost warnings start coming out.  No worries!  Just pick them and try this great tidbit!

To ripen green tomatoes, simply line a baking sheet with newspaper.  Fill it up with green tomatoes (not too tightly) and cover it with another sheet of newspaper.  Keep the baking sheet in a cooler (not cold) area of your home, checking them ever day or two.  If I kept them in my kitchen this time of year, it would be too hot and they would ripen too quickly and start to rot.  I keep my in the lower level of our house, either in the laundry room or guest bedroom.  Keep them out of direct sunlight and away from air vents.  In a few days, the tomatoes will begin to ripen.  They will not all ripen them together, so you can pull some out and eat them as you go.

Why does this work?  Tomatoes naturally give off a gas called ethylene.  The newspaper traps that in, helping the tomatoes to ripen more quickly.  Here are some pictures of the process, as it worked for me.  I dated the photos for you - but your process may work on a different timeline.

September 7th. 

I had to separate the tomatoes into two pans
as I added in more cherry tomatoes.  This is pan 1 on Sept. 17.

This is the second pan, also on Sept. 17th. 

This is Sept. 26th.  All the tomatoes are beautifully ripe.
I'm back down to one pan as I have been pulling out
tomatoes as they have ripened along the way.

If you look closely, the caption on the right side of the newspaper, coincidentally, reads "Inches Away From Perfection."  How appropriate!

What to do with all these ripe tomatoes?  Just search online for "tomato recipes" and you will be instantly overwhelmed.  So many wonderful possibilities.   I'll share with you our families favorites, and then the choice is yours. 

Some of these tomatoes I canned because I simply cannot use them fast enough. My crop is not big enough to do an afternoon of canning - I just do a jar or two at a time as needed.  You can too - it does not need to be overwhelming.   I'm going to let you search out directions online for the best canning "recipe" for you.  Everyone does it a little different.  I can just plain tomatoes, others can "stewed tomatoes" or different sauces.  You'll find the right fit.  Rather than "recreate the wheel", I'm just going to redirect you to these great, easy instructions I found, posted on www.About.com by Molly Watson:  Home canning tomatoes.

In the meantime, here are a couple of photos of the last time I canned to inspire you.

Step one: jars and lids sanitized in boiling water.

Step two: Split the skins on the tomatoes in same boiling water.

Gorgeous, right? This one is ready to peel.

Start peeling.  It's a mess.  Plan ahead.

Peel and chop into wedges.

Add tomato wedges, lemon juice, salt and top off with water.

Wipe clean lid (with a paper towel!), tightly seal jar,
boil for 30-45 minutes.  Remove and set on counter to cool.
Make sure the lid has sealed! (see above link for better instructions).

Beautiful, right?  It's summer in a jar. Saved for winter.  

Now for the recipes!

The best way to chop tomatoes, is to use either a very sharp knife, or a serrated one if your knives aren't well maintained. Otherwise it will just slip and slide all over the tomato's skin.

Halve it, slice it then dice it.  Easy-peazy.

Tony's Fresh Garden Salsa
(A huge hit whenever we serve it... never gets saved for later!)

- 3 large tomatoes, diced or the equivalent in cherry tomatoes, quartered.
- 1/4 - 1/2 medium white onion, finely diced.
- 1 clove garlic, finely minced
- 2 large or 4 small jalepeno peppers, finely diced.
- 3 Tbs. fresh cilantro, chopped (minimum - better with more!)
- 1/8-1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/8 tsp. black pepper
- Juice of one lime.

First, dice the onions and combine them with half of the lime juice and approximately of the salt.   Let that soak together while you dice the tomatoes. Add in the tomatoes, the last half of your salt, all the pepper and all of the minced garlic.  Dice peppers, removing the pith and seeds for a more mild salsa - leaving all or some of the pith and seeds for a hotter salsa.  Next, add in the chopped cilantro.  Last, add the remaining lime juice.

Optional: 1/2 diced avocado.  This makes it super yummy, but you'll want to eat it all the same day as the avocado will not be great the next day.  If you are eating this over a couple of days - leave the avocado out.

Wash veggies and combine all in a medium bowl. Toss gently to mix.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Tony's Fresh Garden Salsa.  Mmm...

Bruschetta 
(My favorite - I could eat the whole batch!)

- 3 large tomatoes, diced or the equivalent in cherry tomatoes, quartered. (In the winter, I've been known to used canned, petite diced tomatoes and it still works out pretty nicely.)
- 1/4 c. Italian cheese blend (shredded parmesan and romano)
- 3 Tbs. fresh basil OR 1 1/2 tsp. of dried.
- 3 Tbs. fresh oregano OR 1/2 tsp. dried oregano

- Drizzle 1-2 tsp. Seasoned Rice Vinegar - Garlic*
- Drizzle 1 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
- Loaf of french bread or a baguette.
- Butter for the bread.

Toss gently to mix.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving.  

Slice bread to 1/2 to 1" thickness.  Butter each slice and lightly toast them under the broiler.

Allow to cool.  Top each with a generous portion of the bruschetta mix.  Serve and enjoy!

My favorite - Bruschetta.

* Seasoned Rice Vinegar is a great product that I came across back in my marketing days.  

I buy the Nakano brand because it is widely available.  In my supermarket, it is sold in the "ethnic" area, but could also be likely found by condiments.  Ask if you don't find it.  You could substitute 1 tbs. vinegar and a clove of garlic - but it's not quite as good...

Seasoned Rice Vinegar - Roasted Garlic.

Tomato Basil Soup

Note:  This makes a large batch. You will need a stockpot.  Freeze the extras or give some to a friend who could use a ready made meal.  I usually do both.  

(I can't believe I haven't posted this before.  This is seriously my FAVORITE soup.)

- 1/4 c. canola oil

- 1 1/2 large carrots OR two small ones

- 2 celery stalks

- 1/2 medium onion, white or red

- 16-20 tomatoes OR 4 large canning jars of tomatoes OR 4 large (28 oz.) cans of store bought tomatoes. Puree before using.

- 2-3 Tbs. salt

- 3 Tbs. sugar

- 1/2 tsp. black pepper

- 4 1/2 cups dairy (any combination of milk, 1/2 & 1/2 and cream - you decide on how rich or skinny you want it to be.)  OR equivalent of chicken or vegetable stock*  

- 1/4 cup fresh basil, finely chopped.  I don't recommend dried basil in this recipe.

Heat oil in stock pot on medium high heat.  Mince vegetables, then add them to the oil.  Cook and stir until they are translucent and tender - not brown. Add in pureed tomatoes, salt, sugar and pepper, stirring occasionally for 15-20 minutes.  Add in dairy (or chicken stock) and basil.  Cook for an additional 15-20 minutes.  Finished product will be a salmon color.

The pureed vegetables will be a bright orange.

Bright red once the puree and the tomatoes are added together.

This is the finished DAIRY FREE soup - I used chicken stock.
It stays very red and has a thinner consistency.
Still tastes great - but of course, different.

This is the finished product of the main version, with milk.
It ends up almost salmon in color.  Delish! 

Here are a few of my mismatched storage containers,
ready to go into the freezer for many meals to come!

Notes: Allow to cool in the refrigerator.  If you are going to freeze the extras (highly recommended!), pour generous portions into freezer safe containers.  Don't forget to leave a little room at the top for expansion.  I most commonly use the family size yogurt containers for freezing - just don't forget to label them! These keep for a long time.  If you want to prevent the top from getting that icky ice glaze, just cut a piece of wax paper to fit and lay it on the top of the soup before freezing.  When you are ready to eat and enjoy, allow the soup to thaw at least 24 hours in the refrigerator OR put it in a crockpot on low with a little water.  When I am making this for the family, we will often add in some frozen cheese-stuffed ravioli's to the warming soup and serve with warm bread.  Mmmmm....  

I haven't tried this recipe with any milk substitutes.  I know it would work, but I'm not sure how much it would alter the taste.   I think it's the creaminess that is important in the recipe, so it might be best to leave it out and substitute chicken or vegetable stock for the best taste result.  If you try an alternate milk version, let me know!

Happy tomato season!

Baking for your family - healthier, faster, easier.

Tamara Nugteren


If this looks familiar, it is because this is an updated and expanded version of a previous post.  Please enjoy both versions!

I love to bake.  This works nicely with my desire to feed my family and myself in a healthy way, because I can choose the ingredients in my recipes. I can also tailor my recipes to be dairy-free, for my daughter.  But, time is also a premium when you have young children, so how can I best do both of these things when baking from scratch takes time?  No point in arguing it – baking from scratch is definitely slower than buying pre-made items or even whipping up a box mix or using premade dough for your favorite goodies.  But, just because it takes more time doesn’t mean you can’t do it – and there are lots of ways to be more efficient and make your extra work last longer.

Here are a few of my favorite time saving tips for baking:

Dedicate a cabinet to baking supplies.

When possible, keep everything to do with baking all in one spot in your kitchen.

In my kitchen, I keep all the dry ingredients (flours, sugars, baking powder, baking soda, salt, chocolate chips.), oils, cookie cutters, measuring cups, muffin cups and seasonings together.  If space allows, keep your mixing bowls there as well.   It’s a one stop shop.

Whenever you bake something, make extra.

Whenever I’m able to set aside some time for baking, I make sure I have enough ingredients on hand to make several batches.  This works really well for all sorts of baked dishes.  Everything from muffins to lasagna.  If you are going to go through the work, why not make two or three batches?  It takes almost no extra time if you have all the ingredients out anyway.

For entrées, you can usually make the entire recipe up until the bake point, like with a lasagna.   Just cover the uncooked dish with foil, write the bake time on top with a permanent marker and freeze.   Ever freeze extra soup?  No?? Oh, you have to try that.  Anything without noodles works great (the noodles get mushy…).

Home-baked cookies are THE BEST, but having an entire batch of cookies in the house is just trouble.  I personally, have very little self-control.  If I’m not feeding a large group, it’s best for my waistline to bake only a few at a time.  The best way to accomplish this is to make my own cookie dough rounds – just like you can get in the refrigerator section (except better of course!) and freeze them.   It’s so easy – you’ll wish you had done it earlier.  Start with a double batch of dough.  (Consider dividing it up into three or even four portions and flavoring each differently.  Some chocolate chip, some white chocolate macadamia nut, some M&M – whatever you like. )  Then, take a dough scoop or a couple of spoons and plop the dough down onto a cookie sheet lined with wax paper.  You can put them pretty close together since they won’t spread.  Put the cookie sheet in the freezer until the dough is frozen.  Pull them off and drop them all into a gallon sized freezer bag and re-freeze.  Make sure to write the bake instructions on the outside of the bag.  Then, whenever the mood strikes, you can bake just a couple at a time.  Or several different varieties so that everyone gets their favorite!

The kitchen tip that I use by far the most is making homemade baking “mixes”. 

A baking mix is just the recipe’s dry ingredients – premeasured and stored together.   Anyone can do that! Muffins, waffles, pancakes, scones, breads… the list goes on and on.  

For example: Find a great homemade muffin mix you love.  Measure out the dry ingredients for one recipe in a mixing bowl and two more into quart-sized storage bags. Either print-up and insert the recipe inside the bags, or write it on the outside with a permanent marker.  Remove all the air, seal it shut and put it in your pantry. Next time you want muffins, you have half the recipe already done.  Go on to finish out the recipe in the bowl.  If the recipe makes a particularly large batch, I always freeze at least half of the finished muffins in an airtight container.  Double time savings!  Some extra muffins for later and some extra muffin mixes for WAY LATER! (My family just can’t eat two dozen muffins as fast as we can two dozen cookies!)

There are so many make-ahead possibilities.  The savings are in both time and money – and of course no un-pronounceable ingredients is a great bonus. 

View this link: My Favorite Bell Pepper Recipes for recipes for Roasted Red Pepper Hummus and Veggie Packed Savory Meatloaf.  Both of which freeze well.

Check back soon - my next few posts will be some of my favorite fall recipes, all of which are perfect for making extras for later.  Homemade Tomato Basil Soup (for my garden's bountiful tomato harvest!) and the best, EASY rosemary bread recipe will be first.  Shortly following will be two of my favorite muffin recipes - Pumpkin Chocolate Chip and Chocolate Zucchinni (both of which also happen to be dairy free.) Yum!  Happy baking!