This is last week’s haul of tomatoes, so I thought, I want to do something with them so that we’ll have yummy tomatoes through the fall and winter.

I use a lot of stewed tomatoes, in my soups and like with meatloaf or roasts, that kind of thing. So I found this cool recipe for crock pot stewing and that sounds fun and easy to me.

You take a bunch of tomatoes. Pretty much fill up the crockpot almost… add some onion, and green pepper and then 3 or 4 tablespoons of sugar, a couple cloves of garlic and a bit of salt (I put in a tablespoon) and then some ground pepper to taste. Stew them all day in a crockpot… 6-8 hours and then let cool and either can or freeze. I’m going to freeze mine.

You blanche and skin the tomatoes, which is really easy! And I will admit, I’ve never done it before and I was really amazed at how easy it was!

Just boil some water and have a bowl with ice cold water and ice cubes in it waiting. Pop the mater in the boiling water about a minute or three. Some split their skin like immediately, others needed a little longer. Don’t want to cook them, but the bigger they are, they might need the 3 minute time. Then pop them right in the cold water. It’s almost like magic! They slip right out. It’s a little messy, just use your hands and free them.

I rough cut them into some big chunks and popped them into the pot.

Then I added my spices and sugar, along with some chopped up onion and green pepper. I added two big onions to the pot because I love onions in my soups and all that. You can add celery too, if you want, heck green onion… ah… whatever… carrot? That would be good too.

Now, I did overdo the pot a little bit, but they do cook down, so I let’er ride. Just drained off a little of the watery juice after an hour or two. Not a lot, just enough to make it all fit good. I suppose you could drain off a lot of that pulpy liquid, but I like that too, seems like it works good and is all spiced up and all.

You cook it a good 6-8 hours on high and stir once or twice to make sure it’s all mixed good. Then turn it off and let it cool another 5 or 6 hours. Then you can either can it, use it or bag and freeze it! I’m going to bag and freeze mine in like quart and pint sized bags.

Oh, it made the house smell so good… and the taste is out of this world. Fresh garden stewed tomatoes! I think they will be a little taste of summer heaven on a cold wintery evening. Some hot homemade bread and a little ham or beef stew? YUM!

The winds are blowing today, it’s down to 57 degrees!!! We went from shorts to coats in one day! Supposed to go down to 34 degrees on Wednesday. I think my garden’s days are numbered! That’s for sure….