I finally have more tomatoes than I know what to do with. This happy dilemma usually strikes in late July, but our strange winter resulted in a delay. I guess the snow storm on May 5^th was bound to mess things up a little.

I didn’t grow these tomatoes. I’m a terrible gardener, though that fact doesn’t stop me from trying every year.

Instead of growing my own, I rely on a farm stand that rises out of the asphalt in front of Hobby Lobby each July.  Deb Kenney, who runs the stand, sells the produce she and her husband grow on their farm in DeSoto, Kansas. She carries a wide range of produce, though her quantities depend on how well the crop turned out. That’s reality when your food really comes from a farm.

I like to use fresh tomatoes in lots of different recipes. Here’s one I like to take to picnics. It comes from a hand-written cookbook given to me by my mother-in-law called, “Cooking for the Gentry”, by Elizabeth Kersey Sigman

Herbed Tomatoes

• 6 ripe tomatoes
• 2/3 Cup olive oil
• ¼ Cup vinegar
• ¼ Cup finely chopped parsley
• ¼ Cup green onions
• 1 tsp salt
• ¼ tsp pepper
• 2 tsp fresh thyme (or ½ tsp dried thyme)

Peel* and quarter or slice tomatoes. Place in bowl or dish to marinate several hours. Mix all other ingredients and pour over tomatoes. Cover and chill several hours. Serve on a bed of greens: watercress, spinach, leaf lettuce or any bright garden greens.

*To peel a tomato, cut a small “x” into the skin on the opposite side from the stem. Place the tomato in a pan of boiling water for about 30 seconds, or until the skin at the “x” pulls away from the flesh. Remove it from the boiling water (tongs work well for this) and plunge it into a bowl of ice water to stop the flesh from cooking.

Happy eating!