Tomatoes — Patchwork Times by Judy Laquidara

Sprouting Seeds

June 30, 2012 · by JudyL

All of my little tomato seeds are sprouting! You cannot imagine how bad those giant grasshoppers are and how much they’re eating – leaves, vegetables, fruit, weeds . . they are just awful. I’m so ready for them to go . . die . . whatever! Vince said everyone at work is complaining about how bad they are this year.

I asked Vince if he would make me a little screen to put over my seeds so the grasshoppers wouldn’t eat everything as soon as it popped through the dirt. You know Vince . . it’s can’t be just a little screen. He built me a table, with legs so I don’t have to bend over and he put it over by the water faucet. He covered it with solar screen to keep the hot sun from scorching the tender plants. He has a regular screen cover to put on it when the plants get a little larger and can take the blistering sun better. Even then, we’ll probably keep the regular screen on til early afternoon and then switch back to the solar screen.

This picture as taken several days ago. I think all the seeds have sprouted now.

Vince is such a good helper! If he could just figure out how to get rid of those grasshoppers without getting rid of everything else! Don’t even tell me they serve a purpose . . I could live with a few of them but I’m telling you . . they’re so bad that they hit you in the face when you’re walking and if you don’t keep your mouth closed (and you can imagine how hard that is for me!), they’ll end up flying right into your mouth. The chickens love them but I surely don’t!

· Filed Under: Home & Garden · 5 Comments

Out of the Dehydrator

July 31, 2010 · by JudyL

This time of year, the dehydrator is rarely empty. In a couple of months, it will sit idle til Chad wants a batch of jerky. This morning I emptied out chili peppers, basil and cherry tomatoes.

The basil went into the blender.

Where it was ground down to almost nothing.

That was put through a mesh strainer to get the stems and larger pieces out.

I’ll end up with several half pints of basil to get me through winter. If I have more than that, I’ll give it to friends to help get them through winter! Did you know all it takes is a little fresh tasting basil to chase away the winter blahs?

The tomatoes were put in the blender. And, because I don’t care if there’s a tiny bit of basil flavor in the tomatoes, I didn’t even have to wash the blender between loads.

The tomatoes were pulverized. I recommend ear plugs or some type hearing protection for this step. Those tomatoes are loud in the blender. The powder was added to a jar I’d started last week and now I have a full jar.

The chili peppers were placed in a zipper bag. I want them to be dried some more but I’ll wait til I have something else to put in with them.

It’s not much work at all but it will make a big difference in some of the foods I cook this winter.

· Filed Under: Cooking · 5 Comments

Getting Creative With Tomatoes

July 27, 2010 · by JudyL

Finally, the goal has been reached for the canned tomatoes for 2010 and I’ve been jumping for joy! The tomato plants didn’t get the message and they’re still producing. Last week when I mentioned that I wasn’t going to skin and can the cherry tomatoes, no matter how many pounds of cherry tomatoes we have, several suggested drying them and grinding them to a powder so I did!

First I dried them, with the skins on:

I left them in a sealed jar overnight and the next day, they went through the blender. Tomato powder!

I used some of the powder last night instead of tomato paste in my enchilada sauce and it was fantastic! More cherry tomatoes are in the dehydrator right now!

Also, I did a little research on sun dried tomatoes. Most commercial sun dried tomatoes are dried in dehydrators these days. I can do that! The dried ones with no oil or spices are about $7/pound at Wal-Mart. Those in a jar of oil and spices are about $8 for 8 ounces at the grocery store. I don’t like skins on my sun dried tomatoes so I used larger tomatoes that I skinned, quartered, and removed some of the seeds.

These will be stored in a freezer bag in the freezer. A few days before I need sun dried tomatoes, I’ll take a few out, marinate them in olive oil and spices and . . free (or almost free) sun dried tomatoes. But, this plan only works if I stop munching on them. They’re so good to eat just like this.

· Filed Under: Cooking · 16 Comments

It’s Been a Good Year

July 23, 2010 · by JudyL

For tomatoes, it’s been a great year! I don’t have a green thumb and I’m allergic to tomato plants. I’m ok with tomatoes but if I touch the plants, I break out in a rash. I used to could wear a long sleeve shirt and gloves and be ok but not this year. Almost walking in the garden and not even coming into contact with the tomatoes results in a rash so Vince has become the designated tomato picker.

Yesterday I spent a wonderful day sewing with a friend on her farm in a very isolated, rural area. No neighbors, no dogs barking, no cars going buy . . just wide open spaces of very well maintained farm land . . many, many acres. It was wonderful. I could have stayed there and never left.

When I got home, I was tired. The goofy thought that I might get to bed early passed through my head. Vince said “Should I pick tomatoes tonight?” I said yes because we didn’t pick on Wednesday and did pick very closely on Tuesday. He came in with over 70 pounds of tomatoes. This is about one quarter of them.

I stayed up til after 2 a.m. and only canned 14 quarts, the dehydrator is full and you can bet all day today, I’ll be canning tomatoes. It has to be done while they’re ripe . . can’t spread it out over the next month. Lots of work now but it will be worth it to have them all winter.