6 Things You Can Make With Those Garden Tomatoes

With tomato season in full swing, garden tomatoes are available in abundance. Tomatoes are a fantastic source of:
-fiber: helps to lower cholesterol and improve heart health as well as keep athletes full and regular
-lycopene: an antioxidant that can help athletes recovery after workouts
-zeaxanthin: helps protect and improve eye health

Here are 6 delicious ways to use your tomatoes this year:

1. Make Caprese Salad
Caprese salad is a wonderfully easy and fresh salad that can be made fast. To make: combine any type of tomato you have (chop up if using a large tomato vs. a cherry variety), fresh basil leaves (chopped) and mozarella cheese (baby mozzarella works best but can also be good old regular mozzarella; slide into small sqaures). Place in a bowl and drizzle with balsamic vinegar. If you like, you can also drizzle with olive oil. Serve immediately.



2. Make Tomato Sauce
A great tomato sauce recipe consists of two things: fresh tomatoes and lots of time (for simmering)! The better the tomato sauce, the longer the ingredients simmered together. Here is a very simple recipe with only a few ingredients but big flavor. Make a huge batch and freeze the extra for the winter. 

3. Use as a Snack
Who says you have to get crazy cooking? Just grab a couple of handfuls of cherry tomatoes and combine with some nuts or hard-boiled egg and you have a fantastic snack! Or slice up a larger tomato and wrap in a whole wheat tortilla with a bit of cheese. Yum.

4. Make Stewed Tomatoes
You can use these in chili, vegetable soup, lasagna or over rice. Quick and easy to make. Here is a great recipe. 

5. Make Tomato Soup
I love this because it freezes well so you can save it for colder temperatures. Here is a great creamy tomato soup recipe, though I recommend substituting non-fat condensed milk for the cream - still creamy and less saturated fat. 

6. Make Salsa
While you can certainly make a more traditional salsa, when I think salsa, I think of this amazing corn and black bean salsa. Substitute your fresh garden tomatoes for the canned tomatoes in the recipe. I can't express how delicious and fresh this dip is!

Your Nutrition Coach,


RDKate