There are so many things to love about summer, but by far, my favorite thing is readily available fresh produce, including from my own garden! although happily, there are several farmer's markets available to supplement where my meager gardening attempts fail!)

Well, it's a beautiful Saturday afternoon and I have nothing to do, so instead of being outside like most Maine folk (who know what winter is just around the corner) I took today to cook!

Because I have an abundance of ripe tomatoes from my garden, I decided to make a sauce, either for immediate consumption or for freezing for those cold winter days. I started with about 15 medium sized tomatoes...



Tammy's Tomato Basil Sauce

15 medium sized tomatoes
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic
1 large onion
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 habanero pepper

  1. First, I skinned and seeded the tomatoes, then chopped them roughly.
  2. Add tomatoes and finely chopped basil leaves to a large stockpot and bring to a simmer.
  3. Meanwhile, finely chop onion, mince garlic and finely chopped habanero pepper to a small fry pan with oil oil and saute until onions are translucent.
  4. Add onion mix to tomatoes, cover and let simmer for 2 hours. Buon appetito!

So, while I waited for my sauce to be ready, my rumbling stomach reminded me I needed lunch. So I scrounged through my refrigerator and sound ingredients to make a yummy veggie wrap.

I started with a sun-dried tomato wrap and covered it with out 1/3 cup of my homemade red pepper hummus, then I piled on cucumber slices, quartered grape tomatoes, brocco sprouts and some blanched asparagus, folded it up, put it on my panini maker for a couple of minutes and voila - lunch is served!