I have to tell you that I very rarely eat tomatoes in the winter. The perfect, red, unblemished offerings in the store just don’t have the flavour I’m craving. Now, a vine-ripened, sun warmed field tomato? Just can’t get enough of the garden produce currently available.

I got a hold of some tomatoes and cucumbers, picked that day. The hubby and I immediately sliced one and snacked with just a touch of salt on the slices. So good! That night for dinner I served them, just sliced, as a side dish. Last night I made a Greek salad. The cucumbers were slicers, not English, so I peeled some of the skin. I was rather silly and didn’t grab any green pepper, which were available. What was I thinking?

I’ve been making Greek salad for so long I don’t really use a recipe. If you need one check out this one from Love and Lemons. I love having Greek seasoning on hand and this mix from Culinary Hill is divine! The cinnamon is a nice surprise. I had a fresh zucchini and roasted chunks in the oven last night, with Greek seasoning. Delish!

So, how to keep summer’s tomatoes for winter use? I have canned a simple tomato sauce using this recipe from The Prairie Homestead. She also has a recipe for tomato paste. Manitoba’s Getty Stewart has a nice piece on freezing homemade salsa. You can freeze whole tomatoes, here are some good instructions from The Kitchn. How about using the lovely garden tomatoes for ‘sun-dried’ tomatoes but using the oven? Here’s how from Gimme Some Oven.

Won’t it be fantastic to have the flavour of garden tomatoes in the dead of winter?