Cooking with Tomatoes
@belindayhughes (1096)
United States
January 19, 2013 9:55pm CST
Tomatoes are such fun to cook with. You can find them fresh, raw, diced, with or without salt, seasoned for Italian or Mexican recipes or plain, whole, peeled, diced, petite diced, pureed, and as sauce or paste. And there are so many varieties of tomatoes, such as Beefsteak, Roma, cherry, plum, grape, vine ripened and more. There are even tomatoes in different colors. Once, I attended an art gallery crawl, in which one exhibition group served alternating slices of tomatoes and mozzarella with basil leaves, and drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. Many schools raise money with spaghetti suppers, selling tickets to receive fresh hot box dinners of pasta and seasoned tomato sauce. One of my favorite restaurant pizzas was created with chunky tomato sauce on a crust, topped with a melted cheese blend. When I make Pasta Primavera at home, I like to transfer the cooked, drained pasta to the pan full of seasoned tomato sauce before dishing it into bowls. Then I top it with fresh chopped tomatoes and other vegetables, with a sprinkle of Parmesan. Tomatoes are also delicious in burritos, enchiladas, tacos and just about any Mexican dish you care to name. I also enjoy tomatoes in a fresh garden salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing.
2 people like this
13 responses
@wolfie34 (26771)
• United Kingdom
21 Jan 13
Each year I grow tomatoes in my garden, and yet I don't eat them! My mum and dad love tomatoes, so they get the benefits of the fruits, they usually like them in salads in with a sandwich. The only time I like tomatoes is the sauce and also tomatoes on pizza, I am strange like that. They are very versatile and as you stated you can do so much with them and they come in many varieties. Mum likes the cherry tomatoes the best, and dad likes the big plum tomatoes fried with his breakfast.
@wolfie34s_sis (93)
• Canada
22 Jan 13
Well I'm a diabetic, so choosing my foods carefully is essential to maintaining good health. Instead of reaching for a cookie or potato chips or any kind of "junk food", I choose to often eat tomatoes, just like one would eat an apple. I cut them up and snack on them while writing on MyLot or whatever else I am doing at my computer. Ok they're not cooked but still loaded with Vitamin C which is greatly needed for diabetics since we suffer from dryer skin than non-diabetics. So there, you are all the "tomato of my eye" LOL
1 person likes this
@belindayhughes (1096)
• United States
22 Jan 13
@ wolfie: That's great that you grow tomatoes for your family's needs. Do you use organic methods like beneficial nematodes, planting basil and marigolds around the tomato plants and encouraging blue metallic wasps? The beneficial nematodes eat bad bugs and leave the good ones, throughout the garden. The basil is a repellent to fat, green, tomato hornworms, who eat tomato leaves during blossoming. The blue metallic wasps eat the tomato hornworms. All these can help you to grow more tomatoes for your family's table.
@ sis: I've heard of people eating tomatoes like apples, but it's been awhile. I've not tried it yet. I never thought of diabetics needing them so much, but it certainly makes nutritional sense. Also, when eating tomatoes raw, you're getting the added benefit of live enzymes, which do a multitude of good things in the body.
Cheers!
@yoyo1198 (3641)
• United States
10 Mar 13
I'm not much into cooking with tomatoes. About all I use them in is sauce for spaghetti, chili and maybe a special new recipe. I'd rather eat them fresh from a garden/farmer's market. I love fresh tomatoes in the summertime. Make a green salad or just tomatoes on lettuce leaves with a little mayonnaise.
1 person likes this
@belindayhughes (1096)
• United States
12 Mar 13
Hey yoyo, it's great that you enjoy tomatoes so much. Some people eat them like apples. They are actually classified as a fruit, you know.
@salonga (27775)
• Philippines
9 Mar 13
Lots and lots to make our food using tomatoes. I actually love making fresh tomato sauce and top it up to my fried fish. They really perk up the flavor of any dish. In my pasta, I choose fresh tomatoes over canned. It does make a difference if you use fresh tomatoes.
Burritos tastes delightful when there are lots of fresh tomatoes in it.
Burritos tastes delightful when there are lots of fresh tomatoes in it.1 person likes this
@belindayhughes (1096)
• United States
10 Mar 13
Nice to see you again, solanga! Burritos are indeed delicious with tomatoes, the fresher the better. I used to enjoy something called a wet burrito at Casa Ole restaurant. It was basically a large tortilla super stuffed with all the ingredients you could want, including tomatoes. I need to figure out a vegan version of that, since my diet has changed after the last time I had the wet burrito.
@salonga (27775)
• Philippines
21 Feb 13
I love tomatoes too! Indeed they are fun to cook with and much more fun if eaten raw because they are more nutritious when eaten raw. What are the other colors of tomatoes? In our country we only have either green (if not yet ripe) or red when ripe already. I also saw yellow tomatoes in the imported section of the grocery store but have not tried it yet. I love tomatoes in my fresh garden salad and lately I've been enjoying green tomato juice. I feel really good when I drink green tomato juice.
1 person likes this
@belindayhughes (1096)
• United States
21 Feb 13
Hey solanga! I haven't seen the yellow tomatoes yet, but I've heard that different colors of tomatoes are available, such as purple-black, yellow-orange and bi-colored tomatoes. What an amazing range of choices that is!
@aminul842700 (861)
• Dhaka, Bangladesh
5 Feb 13
Hi friend, cooking is a good experiment. Cooking with tomatoes are very easy. It si good vegetables and at the time tomatoes are used for making salads and sauces. Have a very nice day.
1 person likes this
@belindayhughes (1096)
• United States
7 Feb 13
Hello, aminul, and thanks for your kind response. Tomatoes are indeed a breeze to cook with. They're so yummy and nutritious. There's nothing quite like the look and taste of fresh tomatoes in a salad with a snappy vinaigrette. Best wishes!
@belindayhughes (1096)
• United States
30 Jan 13
Hi again, Ricki! Hope all is well. I adore tomatoes and cheese in baked dishes, like manicotti, lasagne, ziti. I like to add eggplant, zucchini and spinach, along with seasonings such as basil, oregano and rosemary. Between those six and some cheese variations, you can spin dinner in so many different direction, flavor-wise.
@wolfie34s_sis (93)
• Canada
20 Jan 13
Did you Know?
Any style of COOKED tomatoes as you have mentioned above, release a substantial amount of Licopene. Licopene studies have proven that when taken by males, on a regular basis, can actually impeed and/or reduce the chances of getting prostate cancer.
Ok, so you're a lady too, but I know many men read these messages too. So men? Arm yourselves with many different meals containing any form of COOKED tomatoes, beit spaghetti sauce, brushetta, cooked roma tomatoes with melted cheese on top as a side dish, etc.
The varieties are endless. Hooray for cooked tomatoes!
1 person likes this
@belindayhughes (1096)
• United States
21 Jan 13
Wow, wolfie's sis, you really know your tomato facts! Lycopene is a very beneficial compound, indeed. I was not aware it comes from cooked tomatoes. Guys should seriously consider stocking up on tomato sauce. Now's also a good time to start looking for tomato plants at your local garden center. It was so sad when Wendy's started putting signs at their drive thru that tomatoes were getting hard to come by. I had a great crop of tomatoes in 2010. Last year was a bit challenging with the drought.
@amybrezik (2118)
• United States
21 Jan 13
I am not a fan of tomatoes. I hate the texture. Hover, I have found that I really likie fried green tomatoes. It is really hard to find green tomatoes though~
1 person likes this
@belindayhughes (1096)
• United States
22 Jan 13
Hello, amy, and thanks for your response. I used to find the texture off-putting as a child, but I grew to like them. Fried green tomatoes are incredibly delicious! You can also use them in some mock apple pie recipes. The easiest way to have green tomatoes is to grow them yourself. Just grab one of those topsy turvy hanging bags,follow the directions, and in no time, you'll have all the green tomatoes your heart desires. Cheers!
@kyle2krystel (2489)
• Japan
20 Jan 13
I love tomatoes, specially if they are out in salad and tomato chunks in spaghetti sauce. Earlier I made a dip with fresh dice cut tomatoes for my taco chip and it turned out so delicious aside from that tomatoes are good for skin
@belindayhughes (1096)
• United States
20 Jan 13
I didn't know they were specifically good for your skin, but with all that vitamin C, they certainly ought to be.
@Raine38 (12250)
• United States
20 Jan 13
And tomatoes are nutritious. It's got lycopene and they say it helps fight the body's free radicals.
I also like the flavor of food better when it's got tomatoes, like in sandwiches, pasta, tacos, even some bit of diced tomatoes in sauces.
1 person likes this
@belindayhughes (1096)
• United States
22 Jan 13
Hello, Raine, and thanks for joining in! It's wonderful how tomatoes make food look and taste better and improve the nutritional value of any dish. I hope we continue studying tomatoes and discovering more about them. Cheers!
@belindayhughes (1096)
• United States
21 Jan 13
hi edvc, and thanks for responding to this discussion. Tomato quesadillas are absolutely divine! You can add cheeses like smoked mozzarella, extra sharp cheddar, pepper jack, colby, provolone, queso fresco, asiago, bleu and romano, depending on what flavor profile you want. Cheese is a wonderful complement to tomatoes!
@reddog25770 (212)
• United States
20 Jan 13
Tomatoes are delicious and you can make such a wonderful variety of foods from them. I'm not a big fan of cooked tomatoes. I like them fresh out of the garden on salad and sliced up for sandwiches. Also like them boiled down for sauce. Nothing like a good homemade tomatoe sauce. So many wonderful Italian dishes can be made with it. My favorite is spaghetti and meatballs. A little mozzarella on top and some garlic bread. Yummy. Just thinking about it is making me hungry.
1 person likes this
@belindayhughes (1096)
• United States
21 Jan 13
Garlic bread sounds wonderful! While it's fun to make your own at home, I also like the ready to bake kind from the store. You can choose from the store brand in baskets and cabinets by the checkout, frozen from brands such as Pepperidge Farm and bags of sliced seasoned crostini in the Bakery section. They're all great additions to a tomato meal, highlighting that sparkling flavor.
@belindayhughes (1096)
• United States
20 Jan 13
Hi Mayla, and thanks. It's amazing how many flavors and colors of tomatoes there are. I never realized it until I looked at a seed catalog.
