Beautiful Crockpot Stewed Tomatoes

Crockpot stewed tomatoes with onions and green bell pepper

My tomatoes vines are done producing for this season.  It makes me feel kind of sad really.  So for my last tomato hurrah of the season, I tried a new recipe for crockpot stewed tomatoes.

Now my original intention was to can these stewed tomatoes along with the whole raw packed tomatoes and juice my mother-in-law Kay and I created last weekend.  But according to pickyourown.org, stewed tomatoes require pressure canning, a device that Kay does not own.

I've been researching pressure canners, but they can be quite expensive.  Plus I am not convinced that canning is something I can do on my own.  I want to do more canning next year, but I think for now this sick chick will do so with help.

Here is the recipe I used:

Crockpot Stewed Tomatoes

2 TBSP olive oil
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 medium green bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped
10 large tomatoes, cored and cut into wedges
3 TBSP brown sugar
sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Combine all the ingredients into a 5 to 7 quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours or until tomatoes are tender.

I am pleased with the results of my crockpot stewed tomatoes.  I packed them into pint Ziploc containers and froze them for use later. According to the recipe I used, they can be stored in the freezer for up to 6 months.

All packed up and ready for the freezer

My recipe is based on All-American Stewed Tomatoes from Slow Cooker: The Best Cookbook Ever, which you can find at Barnes & Noble.com.

Related articles

• Tomato Week: Easy Tomato Sauce (theseatedgardener.com)
• Tomato Week: Ratatouille (theseatedgardener.com)

Wordless Wednesday: My First Canning Project

With copious amounts of help from Kay,
my mother-in-law, I canned for the first time.
On the left: tomato juice  
One the right: raw pack whole tomatoes
 Thank you Kay!

Wordless Wednesday: From Vegetables to Ratatouille

Wordless Wednesday: 14 Pounds of Tomatoes!

This picture makes me think of the Italian flag...

Garden Green Bean Medley

One of my favorite vegetables is green beans. They are so easy to grow and so easy to preserve after harvesting bummer crops. Simply wash, dry thoroughly, pack into Ziploc vacuum bags and freeze.  When you get around to using them, they'll taste as fresh as the day you picked them from your garden.


But don't pack them all for freezing!  Try this recipe to make a delicious, harvest-inspired Garden Green Bean Medley to enjoy now.  I'm even contemplating this instead of my usual green bean casserole for Christmas.  

Garden Green Bean Medley

1 pound fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into 2 to 3 inch-long pieces

3 tomatoes, halved and thinly sliced

1 onion, thinly sliced

2 large bell pepper, halved and cut into thin strips - choose two different colors from green, yellow, red or orange

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 can sliced ripe olives

1 palm-full dried basil (the way Rachel Ray measures her herbs and spices)

sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1/3 cup slivered sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1. Mix together the beans, tomatoes, onion, peppers, garlic, olives, basil, salt, pepper and 2 tablespoons each of the balsamic vinegar and olive oil into a 4 quart slow cooker.   Sprinkle the sun-dried tomatoes on top.

2. Cover and cook on LOW about 3 hours, just until the vegetables are crisp-tender.

3. Remove the vegetables from the crock and place into a serving bowl, leaving the cooking liquid behind. Dress with the remaining 1 tablespoon each of balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

Based on the recipe Green Beans, Peppers, And Tomatoes With Balsamic Vinegar And Sun Dried Tomatoes in the cookbook The Best Slow Cooker Cookbook Ever by Natalie Haughton. Buy The Best Slow Cooker Cookbook Ever at Barnes&Noble.com.

Tomato Week: Ratatouille

Ratatouille: a crock pot full of garden goodness

You got to love the French for making a humble vegetable stew sound and taste delicious.  This recipe is a great way to serve and preserve bumper crops of tomatoes, zucchini and bell pepper. I made this using the tomatoes and bell peppers growing my my garden.  This year, my zucchini didn't seem to thrive so I needed to use store-bought ones instead.

I like adding sliced green olives stuffed with pimientos at the end for an extra special and flavorful accent.


I love eating this hot or cold.  Just last night I enjoyed it with a crusty French roll and sardines on the side.  You could also top it with Parmesan or goat cheese or use it as a hearty sauce for meat, fish or poultry.  It even works well over a cheese omelet. 

This recipe freezes beautifully, so you can enjoy this summer time treat on a cold and blustery winter day.

Ratatouille

from The Best Slow Cooker Cookbook Ever

1 large eggplant, cut into 1 inch cubes (I leave the skin on for color and texture)
coarse salt
2 medium onions, chopped
3 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
1 large green bell pepper, cut into 1/2 inch squares
1 large red bell pepper or yellow bell pepper, cut into 1/2 inch squares
3 medium zucchini, sliced
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons dried basil
2 garlic cloves, crushed through a press
sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
1 6 ounce can tomato paste
1 5 1/2 ounce can pitted ripe olives, drained and chopped coarsely


Place the eggplant in a colander and sprinkle with coarse salt.  Let drain in the sink 30 minutes to 1 hour. Press out excess moisture, then rinse with cool water and pat dry with paper towels.


Place the eggplant in crock pot. Add the onions, tomatoes, bell peppers, zucchini, olive oil, basil, garlic, sea salt and pepper. Mix well.


Cover and cook on HIGH about 3 hours or until the vegetables are tender but still hold their shape.


Stir in the tomato paste and olives.


Serve hot, room temperature or chilled.  Refrigerate leftovers or freeze to enjoy later.

Buy The Best Slow Cooker Cookbook Ever at Barnes&Noble.com.

Tomato Week: Yellow Salsa

Mixing the ingredients for my yellow salsa in the crock pot

You can't think of tomatoes without thinking about salsa, at least here in Los Angeles.  

I can find a plethora of salsa recipes just by doing a quick search on the Internet, but with an overabundance of tomatoes, I wanted a recipe that allowed me to freeze the end result so I could enjoy it later. 


Most of the recipes I found involved canning, which I have never done and which I just don't have the energy to do.  That's because the hardest part of attempting any kind of cooking that involves the stove top is standing, which for this sick chick is hard to do.


So on a whim, I searched for salsa that I could make in my favorite cooking appliance: the slow cooker.  I struck gold.  This recipe yields a lively and tasty condiment that tastes good fresh and after being frozen.  I decided to add a twist by using yellow tomatoes for a sunny change of pace.

Easy Crock Pot Salsa

8 cups cherry tomatoes, cut in half 
( I used my yellow pear cherry tomatoes)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, chopped
4 jalapeno peppers, stems removed and chopped (remove seeds for a milder salsa)
1 bunch cilantro leaves, finely chopped
1 tsp. sea salt


Place tomatoes, garlic, onions, jalapenos and cilantro into the crock pot.  

Stir to mix the ingredients.

Cover and cook on high for approximately 2 1/2 to 3 hours or until the vegetables are soft.
 
When cool, combine the tomato mixture and salt in a blender or food processor and process until smooth.

Refrigerate or freeze to enjoy later.

Wordless Wednesday: So Many Tomatoes

          Gurney's cold set tomatoes (started from seed)

Tomato Week: Easy Tomato Sauce

Image via WikipediaWith so many tomatoes coming ripe right now, I'm declaring this tomato week and planning to share plenty of tomato harvest recipes with you.

My tomato plants did really well this year and right now there are just too many to eat before they start to spoil. So it's time to pull out my crock pot slow cooker and turn those tomatoes into something I can prepare, freeze and enjoy later.



My first project is yummy tomato sauce. I'm looking forward to using it for spaghetti and meatballs and in homemade lasagna.

My strategy to make this oh-so-easy is to split the prep work into small sessions and store the ingredients inside the ceramic crock pot liner in the refrigerator until the recipe is ready for the slow cooker.

Garden Fresh Tomato Sauce
from The Best Slow Cooker Cookbook Ever

makes about 7 cups

4 pounds ripe tomatoes chopped
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 large onion chopped
2-3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
4 large garlic cloves minced
3 Tbsp dried Italian herbs
sea salt and freshly ground pepper

2 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

In 4 quart crock pot mix together the tomatoes, tomato paste, wine, onion, olive oil, garlic, Italian herbs, sea salt and pepper.

Cover and cook on LOW for 4 to 4 1/2 hrs.

Stir in sugar and balsamic vinegar. Increase the heat to HIGH and cook, uncovered, 1/2 hr longer to thicken the sauce.


This sauce freezes well so stash a few containers in the freezer.

Buy The Best Slow Cooker Cookbook Ever at Barnes&Noble.com.