These days, when I am not out working in the fields, you can generally catch me in the kitchen.  I’m either making apple sauce or tomato sauce.  Many people ask me how to make tomato sauce and there are as many recipes as their are tomato varieties, but this is how I make it.

I am a pretty low maintenance kinda gal, so my method is to dump whatever I happen to have at the time.

I wash my tomatoes, generally the split or damaged ones.  Then I core them and cut out any bad spots.  I tear them in half and place them on a jelly roll pan (you could also use a 13 x 9 pan).  Then, I pile on anything else I have around, onions and garlic (of course!), peppers, eggplant, celery, etc.  A little salt and pepper and then sprinkle on some olive oil.  Place in the oven for about 20-30 minutes at 350.

Once that is done, throw in some fresh herbs.  Then, you have two options.  Dump it all into a food processor or blender, or put it in a stockpot.  I put mine in a stockpot and let it simmer on an extremely low heat to let the herbs blend in.  Then, I use a handheld blender to mix it all up in the stockpot.   You can make it as chunky or smooth as you like.  Since I don’t skin my tomatoes, I blend it pretty well so all the skins will get chopped up.  Then you can either can it, or pour the cooled sauce into freezer bags and freeze it.

Now, if you are thinking that this recipe looks great, but you really would rather not make your kitchen into a sauna when it’s already 90 degrees outside, don’t worry.  Wash your tomatoes and place them whole into a freezer bag.  Pull them out when the weatherman announces our next blizzard and you’ll have plenty to do to keep you occupied AND well fed!