Sausage, Tomato, Pesto Pasta

Having an abundance of grape tomatoes & basil, means you need to get creative with how to use them.  I made this once, and it was so good, I made it 2 more times! 

Ingredients: 

1/4 cup Basil Pesto

1/4 cup red onion

1 cup grape tomatoes

1/2 pound Italian sausage 

sprinkle of parmesan cheese

1 t. Italian seasoning

1-2 t. Olive oil

Spaghetti noodles

Directions: 

Cook spaghetti noodles as directed, and drain. 

In a pan, cook Italian sausage, once it is almost cooked, add tomatoes and onion. 

Once the veggies are soft, add them to the drained noodles. 

Add pesto, olive oil, Italian seasoning, and parmesan cheese.  

Mix together, and serve with bread!

I love this because it is easy to throw together, it is even better the next day! 

Baked Tomatoes

Apparently, there is a tomato shortage this year, but not at my house! My garden did really well the month of July, leaving me with over 50 tomatoes! August, is leaving me with lots of green tomatoes, but no red! 

I made these to go along with a pasta dish, just to figure out a way to use them up! 

Ingredients: 

tomatoes

provalone cheese

parmesan cheese

oregano (I used fresh)

basil (I used fresh)

salt

pepper

Directions
Preheat oven to 450° F.
Place tomatoes cut-side up on a baking sheet. Top with cheese, oregano, basil, salt and pepper. Drizzle with oil and bake until the tomatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.

 

Fire Roasted Tomatoes

I wanted to make my tomato soup, but didn't have any fire roasted tomatoes.  But I did have a TON of green tomatoes, turned red via brown paper sack, that my friend Erin gave me.  I decided to use half of them for this, and half of them for some salsa! These were so easy, and don't have near the preservatives that the canned kind have.  

Cut them in half from stem to bottom.

De-seed them as much as possible. I just used my finger.

Lay them on the pan like this and drizzle with olive oil. Stick a little bit of garlic under each tomato. 

Turn the broiler on High. 

Broil for 8-10 minutes, or until they look "Fire Roasted"

Here they are! I took the skins off for my soup, and put them back under the broiler for a few minutes.  I saved all of the juices and put them in my soup too!