WATER & PICK

This has been another hot week with no rain. Every night after work, the only thing I could accomplish was to water the garden and pick tomatoes and peppers and cucumbers.

Water & pick, water & pick, water & pick.

The only problem with that is that my fridge is over-flowing with produce. That’s not a bad thing, of course, but I ran out of room for anything else in the refrigerator. I had to take care of at least some of the accumulation.

So, for tonight’s project, I filled the dehydrator with tomatoes to dry and make into more tomato powder.

That is all. Not much, but something – every bit counts you know.

The last time I talked about making tomato powder, I didn’t really explain why it is so useful so let’s discuss that for a minute.

The main way I’ve used tomato powder is to make tomato sauce or tomato paste when I didn’t need enough to open a whole can. Actually, I don’t usually keep canned tomato sauce or tomato paste in my pantry. I also like to add tomato powder to soups, casseroles, and other dishes for extra flavor and nutrition. If I have a tomato-based sauce that’s too thin or watery, I thicken it up with my tomato powder.

Do you have picky eaters? They can’t turn their noses up at a dish with tomato if they can’t see the tomato, right? Tomato powder, actually any vegetable powder, is a great and easy way to “hide” vegetables in your cooking.

Check out this post by Darcy Baldwin that I found on The Purposeful Pantry. She has some good ideas and interesting recipes for using tomato powder. Her suggestions can be found by clicking HERE.

I’m thinking, the Garlicky Tomato & Herb Sandwich Spread needs to be on the table the next time we grill hamburgers.