Depending on where you live, tomatoes are in season between May and October, with common harvests in the late summer. Whether you have grown a few tomato plants in your backyard garden or simply like to shop for in-season produce at farmer’s markets, you might find yourself with more tomatoes than you know what to do with right about now.
To put those tomatoes to good use, here are some recipe ideas to try and enjoy the taste and health benefits of this wonderful food.
Tomato Caprice Salad
Tomato caprice salads are a summertime favorite and also wonderful dishes for warm fall days when you’re dreaming of summer lingering a little longer. Here’s an easy recipe to try that doesn’t involve any baking or sautéing on a stove at all.
INGREDIENTS
- 3 cups red cherry tomatoes, halved
- ½ cup fresh basil leaves
- 1/3 cup fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into small pieces
- 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
- ½ tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. black pepper
DIRECTIONS
- Combine all ingredients into a bowl
- Toss and serve immediately or refrigerate to serve later
Fresh Salsa
Salsa makes a great dip and is often served with Mexican-themed dishes. But unlike many backyard barbecue favorites, salsa can be very healthy, especially if you use fresh tomatoes to make it yourself.
INGREDIENTS
- 3 cups chopped tomatoes
- ½ bell pepper, any color and chopped
- 1 cup onion, chopped
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- 2 tbsp. fresh lime juice
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp. black pepper
DIRECTIONS
- Stir together all ingredients in a bowl
- Serve and enjoy – simple as that!
Cold Gazpacho Soup
Gazpacho soup is a favorite dish in Spain, and you can recreate it in your own kitchen with fresh tomatoes. Better yet, you can make this soup in advance and refrigerate it overnight to really let the flavors mix together well.
INGREDIENTS
- 5 slices of stale bread with crusts removed
- 5 large tomatoes
- ½ cucumber, peeled and chopped
- 1 stalk celery
- 2 green onions, chopped
- 1 green pepper, chopped
- ½ cup Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp. sherry vinegar
- 2 cloves garlic
- Salt and pepper
- ½ tsp. cumin
- Cilantro leaves, chopped
- Mint leaves, chopped
DIRECTIONS
- Let bread soak in a bowl of water and soak
- Put tomatoes in pot of boiling water for 30-60 seconds
- Remove skin from tomatoes after removing from pot and they have cooled
- Put all ingredients (except for the fresh leaves) into a blender or food processor
- Add more water to the soup if it is too thick and blend again
- Transfer soup to a large container and refrigerate
- Add fresh cilantro and mint leaves to the top before serving
Another Way to Get Tomatoes
If tomatoes are not in season where you live or you just don’t like the taste of them, Seagate offers another great way to get the health benefits of tomatoes in supplement form.
Seagate’s Lycopene-15 15 mg 90 V Caps contain the powerful antioxidant phytonutrient of lycopene that has been linked to promoting cardiovascular health and also the health of the prostate and cervix. Our product has a consistent 3% (15 mg) lycopene level to give you all of the tomato’s natural lycopene and other phytonutrients. Just one capsule contains the equivalent of the whole tomato, and we ensure that all of the tomatoes we process have no GMOs, pesticides, or other chemicals.