What To Do Wid All Deez Maters.

Flash back to last Thursday.

We were getting ready to leave town on Friday, and I didn't want to leave all of this on my counter.

So's I decided to make a tomato sauce and I'll show you how to do it. First you want to peel all these tomatoes.

The easiest way to peel tomatoes is to bring a big pot of water to a boil ...

... and drop a few tomatoes at a time in the boiling water.

Boil for about 30 - 60 seconds until the skin starts to split.

Like so.

Then find a cute dog acting silly and take a picture of him.

Drain the 'maters in a large colander.

And shoot more puppy shenanigans.

Gotta love that Junior.

Take a serrated knife and cut out the stem.

The peel comes right off quite easily.

What you want to do next is seed and juice the tomatoes. Hold the tomato in one hand and insert fingers in the jelly sacs and squeeze.

Juice and seeds come right out.

Tomato pulp on the left. Pan of inedible seeds and skin on right.

I started out with onions and garlic.

Mince the garlic and chop the onions.

Add the onions and garlic to a little olive oil and let the onions sweat.

Chop some pepper ...

... and add to the pot.

Add in the maters.

You could chop the tomatoes before adding but I didn't bother. I'm using my wooden spatula to break them up a bit.

Or you could scissor them.

I like to add a few tablespoons of sugar ...

... and some Kosher salt.

I have lots of basil growing. I picked a large handful, chopped it and ...

... added to the pot.

I also picked some fresh oregano ...

... and some thyme. All you need to do is hold the stem in one hand and strip the leaves off with the other. If you use dried herbs, remember they're more concentrated than fresh, so go easy. Taste as you go along.

Cover and let sit over very low heat for a few hours. This sauce is lovely and oh-so-very-fresh. The difference between canned tomato sauce and fresh tomato sauce is like night and day.

I cooked some whole wheat spaghetti, browned some hamburger meat for my boys (They have to have meat in every meal, else they don't consider it a meal.), poured my tomato sauce over top, and added grated Parmesan cheese. There's just nothing like fresh tomato sauce. I ain't canning when it's 100+ degrees outside so I just poured the rest into serving-sized freezer bags and froze it. Now I can have a bright taste of summer in the middle of winter.