Vegan MoFo Day 3; Canned Whole Tomatoes

I know canning intimidates a lot of people, but, really, it’s pretty easy. And generally pretty forgiving. These tomatoes are just about the easiest thing I’ve ever made.

The worst part about canning tomatoes is having to peel them. the easiest way to do this is to slice an “x” in the bottom of each tomato and throw them in boiling water until the skin begins to pull away from the fruit. Then, dump them in ice water to stop the cooking. Once cool, it’s really easy to pull the skin away from the fruit.

Once your tomatoes are peeled, pack them tightly into wide mouth jars. It takes approximately 3lbs of tomatoes per quart. Sprinkle about a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of lemon over quart of tomatoes. Once packed, screw on the lids, and water-bath for 45 minutes (I live at a high altitude, but, honestly, with this recipe, I don’t think you need to adjust anything for altitude).

Once done, place on a cooling rack (or a pot holder) and let them be overnight.

Use these later for great sauces or soups. My tomatoes are funny colours because I used yellow, black, and red tomatoes.

>Some new foods. and maybe a recipe

>I love summer fruit.

I also love to taste the plethora of melons available in my area. Last week, I tried a melon that seemed to just be called Orange Flesh. It was good. Like a sweeter cantaloupe. I’m not a huge cantaloupe fan, so I wasn’t super excited about it – good, but don’t go on a hunt for it.

This week, I got a Golden Dewlicious. It was kind of boring. Until I tossed it into a blender and made a frothy Dewlicious drink. Its sweet and mild – I recommend it.

Now, today’s lunch. Its really simple, and I can’t even call it a recipe. It was just a sandwich. But, it was one of the best damn sandwiches I’ve had in a very long while.

Tofu
Nutritional Yeast
Salt
Pepper
1 very fresh tomato
mustard
veganaise
bread

Easy enough?

You wanna bake the tofu – I usually press it, then slice it into thin(ish) strips – in whatever direction you choose. Today, I made four thin slices (keeping them a very large rectangle)

cover a baking sheet with some tinfoil. Spray some Pam on the tinfoil. Place Tofu on tinfoil. Sprinkle salt, nooch, and pepper on tofu.

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Flip. Bake 15 more minutes.

On bread, spread veganaise and mustard (I used spicy brown). Pile high with tomato. Add baked tofu. Eat.

This would be fantastic with a plethora of other veggies/fruits, but I like to keep it simple. Really, it needs only the tofu and the tomato. In fact, I ended up eating a slice of the tofu, sans bread, topped with tomato and I was in heaven.