Summer produces warm tomatoes and sunshine . . .

Basically, I prefer cooler temperatures but when our tomato plants start providing us with extravagant amounts of tomatoes, you find that you appreciate all the warmth you find in a fresh tomato that is warm from the plant. Of course, with an abundance of tomatoes comes the responsibility for them . . . as in not letting them go go waste.

Last year, I discovered a way to prepare tomatoes for freezing and almost instant use in spicing up pasta sauces. I washed the tomatoes (and we are talking about a lot of them!), sliced them into quarters or into reasonably the same size and thickness. I diced up several heads of fresh, peeled garlic, and mixed them in with the tomatoes, salt, and olive oil. I spread them one layer deep on a baking pan (with a rim) and slowly baked them in the oven at 300 degrees for about an hour or until they lost a lot of their liquid. I put them into another baking pan (greased with vegetable spray) sprinkled them with salt, pepper, and a smidge of chili flakes and froze them. I then put them into a sealed, freezer container and could dip in for my recipes the rest of the year. Freezing them helped keep them separated once you stored them in the container.

I also washed, halved, sprinkled with lemon juice, salt, and pepper the next harvest of tomatoes and divided them up into some zip lock type freezer bags. I put them into 'serving' size for most basic recipes. In fact, I have two bags left from last year to use up before the new tomatoes ripen.

A search on the Internet will find several good recipes for savory tomato jam, too. Of all the jams I made, last year, they got the best reviews from neighbors and friends.

My favorite use of fresh tomatoes? Salad! Here is one of my recipes that gets used a lot during the summer season.

Fresh Greek-Style Tomato Salad

Four to six ripe, red tomatoes, preferably Roma
4 ounces Feta
½ tsp. dried dill
½ tsp. basil
½ tsp. oregano
1 tsp. ground pepper
½ tsp. salt or to taste
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons finely chopped, red onion

Cut the tomatoes into bite-sized chunks and place in bowl. Mix the olive oil, vinegar, onions, spices and herbs together in a small bowl. Pour over tomatoes, toss gently and let marinate for at least a half hour before serving. Just before using, crumble in the Feta. The room temperature tomatoes make a nice contrast to the chilled cheese.

This will serve about four people if used for a side dish. You can just double/triple the ingredients if you are feeding a crowd or using it for a light lunch for the family/friends.