Instead of a Monday Mission about tomatoes this week, I’m going to give you a pat on the back…for most families, you already eat a lot of tomatoes — we all eat pizza, spaghetti sauce, and probably often use canned tomatoes and sauce in recipes like chili and pasta dishes. You just learned in the Monday Mission (here), if you didn’t know before, that canned vegetables lose a lot of nutrients and aren’t recommended…isn’t it nice that tomatoes don’t fit into that category (see the Food for Thought for more)? Just in case you could use some help getting more tomatoes into your week – since they are a Super Food-here are some happy tomato ideas for you.
1. Homemade Salsa - although this really only makes sense in the summer when tomatoes are fresh (unless you live somewhere warmer than I do!)
- Mine (new link!)
- Sarah’s Fire Roasted
- How to can salsa and lots of recipes here
2. Put tomatoes in scrambled eggs (works with fresh or canned – great use-it-up idea if you only need a partial can of diced tomatoes for a recipe)
3. Add to or sub out the cream of mushroom soup when cooking meats in the oven/stovetop
4. In grilled cheese sandwiches. We love mozzarella, tomato and basil leaves, especially in the summer when all are fresh! Great for dipping in soups.
5. Of course, in soups, stews and chilis (new link!). Sometimes in a soup that doesn’t call for tomatoes, you can throw in a can of diced or sauce.
6. Mexican Rice
8. Stir into guacamole or even ranch dip for veggies
9. Purée tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers and scallions together in a food processor and season with herbs and spices of your choice to make the refreshing cold soup, gazpacho.
10. Meatloaf and meatball recipes often call for ketchup or tomato sauce to help hold everything together. If yours calls for ketchup, try using tomato sauce instead to cut down on high fructose corn syrup.
11. Sloppy Joes (homemade recipes abound! This is also a great place to sneak in other veggies in your dinner – chop carrots or peppers and mix into the sauce)
12. Other ideas? How do you use tomatoes?
Look for Katie’s recipe for homemade pizza sauce this Friday…
A Few Cooking Tips
Remember that cooking tomatoes is good, and including oil in the same meal makes the lycopene and Vitamin A more available. Yes, you need fat! This might be olive oil in the recipe, dressing on your salad, or cheese with your sandwich or casserole.
Making your own “canned” tomato products is one way to (1) capture the essence of summer, (2) use up garden bounty, (3) be frugal and/or local at the farmer’s market and (4) make sure your tomato sauces include the peel for added nutrition.
To make your own tomato paste, simply healthy sauté a couple of cloves of chopped garlic and/or 1-2 large chopped onions a couple of minutes until translucent, then add 8-10 chopped whole tomatoes, a teaspoon of dried or several teaspoons of fresh chopped oregano, basil, and any other herbs you enjoy, such as parsley or rosemary, and simmer for 30-45 minutes. Remove from the heat, drizzle with olive oil, and add sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. For a fancier version, sauté chopped olives and/or mushrooms along with the garlic and onions. (source)
Because of the acidity of tomatoes, never cook them in aluminum pots or pans. It will react and be yucky and dangerous! This is the reason even the organic canned tomatoes need a lining, because the toms would react with the metal in the can and cause big problems.
Sneak peek: Analyzing Aluminum in August will address these issues and much, much more!
Other Super Food Health Benefits:
If you missed the last Monday Mission, click here.
Lacto-fermented Ketchup « LifeInk Foodie // Apr 18, 2011 at 12:05 pm
[...] or tomato paste which would probably taste better and save you money. Here’s a way to make homemade tomato paste from Katie at Kitchen Stewardship and what seems like a super easy method in the comments of another ketchup recipe from Nourished [...]