Busy Day Stewed Plum Tomatoes

At the start of August, does it bother you to open the pantry and pull out a can of tomatoes, when there could be a fresh crop around the corner from you? There is something about knowing it's tomato season in the North East.  I'm trying to stop turning to cans with expiration dates years from now, and the thick skinned southern tomatoes from the south (or imported in) you can so easily grab at big grocery stores.

 Well, there's nothing like visiting my family's farm stand, and knowing that the tomatoes came right out of the field, were washed off, and boxed for me to take home.  Wishing it was my local farm market, these beauties are from Samaha's Farm. It's time to cook up the harvest.

Ripe Plum Tomatoes  12-20

A Pepper or two

An Onion

6-8 cloves of Garlic 

2 Stalks of Celery 

Salt

Pepper, Fresh Ground

Italian Seasoning

Bay Leaves 2-3

Clean and hull the plum tomatoes.  

We made a little assembly line, where Naomi gently dropped the tomatoes by handfuls into a sink of water, I dug out their little round stem part, and put into the crock pot. 

Chop Peppers, Onion, & Celery.

The best chopper at work.

Samaha's Peppers

Jersey Onions from Samaha's

Sprinkle on top with the rest of the ingredients.



Throw your crock pot on low and clean up.  Enjoy the afternoon!

We're going to enjoy some tonight.  I'm not sure how yet.   I'm leaning towards a quick southwestern chicken soup with a side of corn on the cob.  But the rest will be frozen so I can reach into my freezer for a bag rather than the pantry for a can.  We barely made a dent in our 25 pound box, so next we'll make a few batches chopped with a very similar recipe and make a lot of tomato salad and sandwiches over the next few days.