true life: i am obsessed with tomatoes

9.17.2013

so if you have been following me on instagram or twitter you may have learned about my obsession with tomatoes. it has been a little out of control this year but i cannot get over it. let me give you a little history on my love of tomatoes.

january 2013, i told myself that i have to learn how to like tomatoes. at this point in time i highly disliked tomatoes, would remove them off salads and sandwiches, and really thought they were gross. but i decided i had to learn to like them for two reasons. one, all of the foodies love them and rave about tomatoes. and myself being an emerging foodie i had to learn to like them. two, tomatoes are very very healthy for you. three, they are very easy to grow in a garden. 

so january started my journey of tomato love. i started not asking the sandwich shop to take them off my tomato and began "tricking" myself into liking them. as the year went on i learned to actually like them. 

then the summer hit, and my home grown tomatoes had come in so i thought i should try eating one plain. and oh my word, it changed my life. home grown tomatoes are the best tasting thing ever. i started eating tomatoes everyday and i never had any to share. friends starting giving us their tomatoes because i had eaten all of mine, and they kept on disappearing (into my tummy). 


fast forward today and i am now obsessed with tomatoes. i keep wanting to can them and have even gone to the farmers market to pick up additional tomatoes but i somehow find a new dish, flavor, or recipe that calls for tomatoes and i can't help and use these amazing, flavorful things. 

not that this tomato loving is a bad thing, but i cannot believe a year ago i didn't like tomatoes at all. and now i eat them daily. i think that by "forcing" ourselves to try new foods over and over again, we learn to enjoy the flavors and instead of being so dismissing of the food that we don't like, i think we need to keep trying them! you never know, the food you hate could be your next favorite food!
anyways, moving on from my tomato tale, tomatoes have incredible health benefits for people. one tomato is filled with vitamins A,C, K, foliate, and potassium. they are naturally low in sodium, saturated fat, and calories. they also have beta- carotene (also found in carrots and sweet potatoes) which helps protect your skin. tomatoes are delicious and a great way to get several essential vitamins.

so basically i think that everyone, if you are a tomato lover or not, should try and eat some of the in season tomatoes right now. 

some great recipes with home grown tomatoes:

heather's home made salsa:
6 tomatoes 
1 jalapeno
1/2 onion
3 cloves garlic
1 bunch cilantro
dash of cayenne pepper
juice from 1-3 limes

put all ingredients into a food processor and pulse until desired consistency. tastes amazing! serve with tacos or chips, or anything really. tastes best immediately but will save up to a week in a mason jar.

kirsebom chili:

1 pound lean beef
1/2 a chopped onion
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1tea spoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 can chili beans 
1 can dark kidney beans
1 can light kidney beans
1 can chopped tomatoes, or in the sumemer i take 3-5 tomatoes, and dice them all up
1 large can tomato sauce

brown beef and onion together on skillet. once the meat has browned, put all ingredients into a crock pot and simmer for two hours, preferably 4-6 hours. top with a little sour cream and cheddar cheese

heather's favorite quick tomato snack:

slice up a tomato and top with salt, basil, mozzarella cheese and a dash of olive oil. if you are in a real rush, skip the oil and the cheese and just have the tomato with basil and salt!

what is your opinion on tomatoes? you clearly know mine now ;)

12 comments:

  1. wish i could join in your excitement of tomatoes i have never been a fan and i only recently started dipping my french fries in ketchup although i love a good tomato sauce on pizza or pasta. on a side note i love your top!

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  2. I don't like tomatoes, but maybe I will think about trying them after reading about your transformation. I like tomato products...like ketchup and sauce! Glad you are enjoying them!

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  3. Congrats on learning to like them! I wish my husband would do that too, but chances are slim haha. I grew tomatoes for the first time ever this year, and they're SO much better than store bought ones!! I seriously had no idea that they would taste so different, but it blew my mind in a good way. And your favorite tomato snack sounds delicious!

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  4. WHAT you didn't like tomatoes?!!:) They are the most amazing thing to come out of a garden! You have realized that though! I'm so glad because you were missing out before! I just had some of my Mom's tomatoes from her garden over the weekend! Oh My gosh so delicious! And the grape tomatoes are like candy! I love homemade salsa and that chili looks delicious!

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  5. I love tomatoes! Always have, and always will :)

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  6. Tomatoes are great... I love that you taught yourself to like them haha

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  7. never liked tomatoes at all too but I don't think I will ever like them. I wish I will.

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  8. I LOVE tomatoes on toast with a thin layer of mayo. I've been growing my own for 2 years now. They're SO yummy!

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  9. looks yummy!

    I nominated you for the Liebster award!

    Check out the details if you want to play along!

    http://puddlesofsunshineak.blogspot.com/2013/09/liebster-award.html

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  10. love tomatoes and tonight we are having chili!

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  11. I love tomatoes! For some reason I can't eat them warm though, unless they're in a sauce and not in big chunks. I would love to have a tomato garden one day, but living in a big city in a condo doesn't really allow for that at the moment.

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  12. I did the same thing with olives back in high school. I decided that I needed to start liking them and began by ordering them with my Subway sandwiches. Now I'm a huge fan! I've also started a similar goal with onions, though for now I can only tolerate red onions... white ones still taste gross to me. Regardless, I agree that we can train ourselves to like things we thought we disliked!

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