Need a Couple of Recipes...

[bobbi-j]

With the abundance of tomatoes I have in my garden, I'm thinking I'd like to make some spaghetti sauce and some chili base (mild - my DH has a wimpy gut). I could just buy the packets at the grocery store, and that's certainly an option, but I thought I'd check here first. I canned 23 pints of tomato sauce today, and have over 3 gallons of juice in the freezer just waiting to be cooked down and made into something. I'm also thinking about something my mom read about. Dehydrating, freezing and then grinding into powder to add to soups and sauces.

 

[Sam BigDeer]

That 'TOMATO POWDER' idea sounds VERY interesting...
Hoping some one with some 'know-how' chimes in on your thread, bobbi-j!
Sam

 

[Ridgerunner]

If you dehydrate it you don't have to cook it down but it may take quite a while to dry. That sounds interesting. I've done that with tomato skins before, dehydrate them then grind them to a powder in a blender to use as a seasoning. Tomato juice should work really well for that seasoning. It's probably more easily digestible than the powdered skins.

Is your concern just hot peppers or are there other limitations? My wife can't handle onions, garlic, peppers of any kind, and the tomatoes are too acid for her to have much. I don't make anything with tomatoes that she can have but I do a spaghetti sauce I eat myself when she's away on trips and give some to the kids. It's got everything in it she can't have. I could look it up but it's just a basic spaghetti sauce. You might look one up and substitute out things he can't have. I add extra basil and oregano but keep the other proportions pretty close to what the recipe calls for.

 

[bobbi-j]

Sorry, Ridgerunner, I wasn't very clear. I meant dehydrating tomatoes themselves - not the juice. Sometimes I type faster than I think...

It's mostly hot spices that DH can't handle. He can do onions and garlic. Last year I just used the spaghetti seasoning packets from the grocery store and mixed them in with the plain tomato sauce. It worked - I was just thinking it would be quicker to have the sauce already seasoned.

 

[digitS']

My pasta sauce evolves through the season. It depends on what time I have and what is at hand.

I always write the ingredients on the bag before it goes in the freezer. That way, I know what additions to make later.

The tomato varieties in my garden definitely have their seasons. They are not determinates usually but some of the beefsteaks kick out 1 fruit every 10days until unloading late.

The ingredients listed don't get down to varieties included but they do make a difference, @bobbi-j . The usual "stuff" is on the list like sweet onions, hot or sweet peppers, basil, s&p, etc.

Steve

 

[Jared77]

What we do is can tomatoes in quart jars. We did the raw pack thats in the ball jar book and store them that way. That way we have more flexibility with what we've produced. We did salsa and the rest were just canned whole.

It's not as fast as having jars ready to open and heat up but we haven't found a canned sauce recipe we really do backflips for yet either.

 

[Nyboy]

One of the members here does make the tomato powder you want, not sure but I think its baymule. You might want to send her a pm if she doesn't see this thread.

 

[baymule]

Baymule shows up to the conversation slurping on a cup of dried tomato flakes soup.......

I have a Vita-Mix blender. I cut the core out of the tomatoes and drop them in. Blend really well till liquidfied. I have poured the fresh juice on one of those solid sheets and dehydrated and it is good. I have also cooked the juice which takes the air bubbles out and it is good too. I like the flakes better with the air bubbles cooked out. I dehydrate the juice, break in pieces and store in a half pint jar or Food Saver bag. You could powder them, but I add the flakes to wet stuff anyway, so the flakes dissolve.

I don't strain out the skins or seeds, they just get blended. You can juice the tomatoes first, if that is what you like. @Sam BigDeer and @bobbi-j I hope this helps. If you have any questions, I'll be glad to help.

I also slice tomatoes and dehydrate them, then pack in Food Saver bags. They are great on lots of stuff. In our climate, I can grow lettuce in the winter, but not tomatoes. We refuse to eat the over priced red baseballs that taste enticingly of cardboard offered by the grocery stores. So, I open a package of dehydrated tomatoes and crumble them over the salad. OK, a little chewy maybe, but soooo good! The flavors and taste are concentrated.

I have canned spaghetti sauce, but I don't have a recipe for it. I am a cook that just throws stuff together and it works-everybody eats it and nobody has died of food poisoning yet. Same with home made chili. I just put it together.

Cook your tomato juice down for spaghetti sauce. Toss in onion, mushrooms, celery, bell pepper, oregano, salt, garlic, and whatever you like. TASTE IT. When it's right, can it.

Packets of spices from the store?? Girl, we gotta have some more conversations.....

 

[baymule]

@bobbi-j do you have a dehydrator?

 

[Nyboy]

God I miss my mothers homemade tomatoe gravy ( Italians don't call it sauce) she made it every Sunday took about about 5 hours to make.