frugal by choice

3 left over egg whites

3 dozen crunchy almond macaroons with amaretto

one $14 box of tomatoes

12 jars of tomato puree

1 large jar of dried tomatoes in olive oil

several glasses of tomato juice (a by product of preparing the tomatoes)
 served with chilli flakes, pepper, salt and worscestershire sauce

about 2 kilos of plums picked from an abandoned orchard and a few apples picked from trees growing by the side of the road

3 jars of plum/apple jelly

 plum 'ice cream' made by processing plum/apple pulp from jelly making
with a frozen banana and drizzled with honey

a quick sweet made with sweetened pureed plum/apple pulp and
 a vanilla egg custard with a sprinkle of cinnamon

tomato preserves..three ways..

i planted several roma tomato plants last year in anticipation of preserving my own tomatoes this year but all of my tomatoes, including the romas, failed to produce a decent crop..next spring i am going to plant  them in a southerly position where they will receive plenty of eastern and western sunshine but where they'll be protected from the dry, harsh northernly wind and sun..hopefully i will then be harvesting tomatoes again..my northerly garden seems to produce great winter vegetables but it's just far too hot for many summer vegetables..

so, because i haven't had my own and since i've wanted to do some preserving, i've bought tomatoes for that purpose..32 kilos to be exact..and i've made three styles of preserved tomatoes..

1.

16 bottles of fowler's vacola tomato puree preserves-i wanted to do more today but it's predicted to be 38 deg c here today and so i will do more next week when it's cooler

dehydrating tomatoes

2.

semi dried tomatoes with garlic slivers, parsley, olive oil and salt-these tomatoes require refrigeration and will only last a week

3.

fully dehydrated tomatoes with added home grown chilli flakes
 and covered in extra virgin olive oil-no refrigeration required

i'm doing another batch of fully dried tomatoes today and so because they take at least 18 hours to dry i'd better get going..

happy weekend everyone..x