Thursday Thrift..........

Today it's all about tomatoes. Home grown, sun ripened and plentiful! This year I had some free seeds of the Santorini Variety-which were purported to be quite capable of doing their tomato thing on natural rainfall. Normally here we get around 80mm of rain through January to the end of February-this year we have had less than half of that!

Therefore-the fact that these little beauties have flourished & produced lovely tomatoes with no feeding and little water makes them a thrifty addition to our garden! We have enjoyed them fresh on sandwiches, toast and in salads-and cooked them as sidedishes as well..I have saved seed for next year and plan to grow more than the 3 plants I put in this year.

I gathered some, chopped them roughly and tossed them in the slow cooker with a good splash of balsamic vinegar & fresh oregano leaves, added 1/4 cup of water and let them cook down for 4 hours on High. The resulting concoction can be used with pasta, to cook zucchini in or added to any other recipe you like. I don't bother to peel or seed them-adds to the rusticity of the dish!

To add to the thriftiness of our homegrown tomatoes, the scraps from chopping them up go straight into the chook food!