Despite the lack of rain and the high temperatures, this was a great year for our vegetable garden. We had plenty of collard greens, zucchini, yellow squash, green beans, and a lot of tomatoes.
I’m always worried about creature damage to the garden–deer, rabbits and other such visitors. But it was very minor this year. We only noticed a few green beans that were chewed by rabbits. I can imagine those bunnies reclining in the garden, green beans dangling above their heads, while they nibbled them from the bottom up. I think–or hope–that we actually ate more than the bunnies did.
In keeping with my philosophy of preserving the harvest, I roasted many tomatoes and dried some, too. And of course we enjoyed many fresh from the vine.
Roasting tomatoes is a very simple process, and also allows me to use fresh herbs from the garden: marjoram, oregano and thyme.
To the herbs, I added a little garlic, olive oil, salt and black pepper, and this is really all that you need.
Pour this over your tomato halves and roast them in the oven at 325 F for about two hours.
Yes, it takes a little time, but it makes the house smell amazing and you can use roasted tomatoes in so many ways–it’s really worth it.
As soon as the tomatoes were ready, I immediately used some of them to make Italian meatloaf. Delicious!
I hope all of you who had a garden this year enjoyed a great harvest. And if you don’t have a garden, hopefully you were able to find some great produce from your local farmers.
Buen provecho!
Daniel – That looks delicious, am anxious to try that. Thanks for sharing a way to improve meatloaf. Always good to try something new. :0)