Tomato Take 2

Just like bills, these tomatoes keep on coming.  Lily and I took to the kitchen again this week to put them to use.  We started with a salsa recipe I found online.  It ended up being crazy spicy, though I didn't realize that until after I'd made 4 quarts.  So I added a fruit to each quart to cut the spiciness.  We were able to freeze mango, peach, strawberry and watermelon salsas.  I added about two cups of fruit to each quart.  They are delicious, very flavorful and both my kiddos enjoy eating them.

Next up, we made some roasted tomato pesto.  I didn't have a recipe for it, just kind of mixed ingredients until it was the consistency I wanted.  I believe it was something like:

9 large garden tomatoes, roasted at 450' for 30 minutes

2 cups lightly packed basil leaves

2 cups toasted walnuts

I processed these three ingredients in the Vitamix while drizzling in about 1.5 cups of extra virgin olive oil.  Once it was a consistency I liked, I stirred in 1.5 cups of parmesan and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.  I also added 1/8 teaspoon of crushed red pepper.   Will be great to pull this out of the freezer and pour over whole wheat pasta or quinoa.

Last but not least...

 ...we made bruschetta.  I think this was my favorite of all the recipes we've done.  Delicious flavor and aroma!

My adorable sous chef!  The danger in cooking with Lily is that she loves to talk with her hands and she forgets that she's holding a knife.  Now it is a 'kid's' knife from the Young Chef's Academy, but I figure if it's sharp enough to cut through a tomato, it can probably do some damage to her or myself.  We'll continue to work on that...