Tomato Tidbits

Tomato Tidbits 

By: USU Dietetics Seniors 

Rashel Clark and Shayna Bedingfield 

Picking out produce at the grocery is always a little daunting to me. I mean, if I am going to spend my hard earned cash on food, it better be good when I get home! So here are a few simple tips to get the most out of your tomatoes:

At the Grocery Store

1. The best tomatoes will be deeply colored and firm, but keep in mind some varieties of tomatoes are meant to be orange, yellow, or purple.
2. The tomato should be firm, but with a little bit of give.
3. Don’t buy the wrinkly ones!
4. In Utah, tomatoes are in season from July to October, so they are best to buy fresh at this time. 
5. During the winter, you may want to buy canned tomatoes, because they have more nutritional value than out of season tomatoes. 

In the Kitchen

1. Keep tomatoes at room temperature—not in your fridge.
2. Never store tomatoes in a plastic bag.
3. If you have procrastinated grocery shopping, here’s a trick to speed up the ripening process: Put tomatoes in a pierced paper bag with an apple. This will emit ethylene gas, a ripening agent. Voila! Ripe tomatoes ready for dinner!

On Your Plate

1. Tomatoes are very versatile. Add tomatoes to your salad, sandwich, pasta, quesadilla, burrito, or omelet.
2. Make salsa or marinara sauce.
3. Make a fantastic soup! For the soup connection minestrone recipe! (Link)
4. Sautee, grill, or bake (see recipe for Baked Parmesan Tomatoes below)

The baked parmesan tomatoes make for an easy and delicious appetizer to keep your guests happy and asking for more! I made this for my Super Bowl party and even most of the junk food junkies approved of this masterpiece. Here are some cheesy tomato jokes to go with our recipe (get it??? Haha, cheesy tomatoes!)

Q: Why Did The Tomato Blush?

A: Because he saw the salad dressing

Q: Why did the tomato go out with a prune?

A: Because he couldn’t find a date!

Q: How do you get rid of lazy tomato employees?

A: Can them.

Then if that is not enough to get you excited about tomatoes here is a fun video to teach you even more!

Baked Parmesan Tomatoes

Ingredients

2 large tomatoes, cut into 3 slices each

½ cup Parmesan cheese, grated

1 tsp dried oregano

salt and pepper to taste

a little bit of olive oil for drizzling over the top (optional)

parsley for garnish (optional)

 

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 F degrees.

In a small bowl toss together the Parmesan cheese, dried oregano, salt and pepper. Top each tomato slice evenly with the Parmesan cheese mixture. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil, this is optional.

Bake for about 5 to 10 minutes or until you notice the cheese starts to turn gold. Garnish with parsley and serve.

Recipe from: http://www.jocooks.com/main-courses/vegeterian/baked-parmesan-tomatoes/