That's about all you can do with tomatoes

Apparently, the best thing I can do for our garden is... leave. We arrived home after our lovely three week holiday to a garden that had absolutely exploded while we were gone. We went from having eight spindly tomato plants to a huge mass of veggie producing goodness! There are-- and I'm not exaggerating-- at least 200 tomatoes on our plants, all of which will be ripe in the next couple of weeks. What this means, effectively, is that if I know you and you're in Canberra, you will be getting tomatoes. I might even throw in a little basil, which has now grown to knee height (and I was worried it wouldn't make it while we were gone!). But what to do with the inevitable leftovers? Here are my ideas. If anybody has any good tomato recipes, send 'em my way! 1. Linguine with Tomatoes, Baby Zucchini and Herbs: This one is perfect because it uses so many of the things that we've got growing. Tomatoes? Check. Basil? Check. Parsley? Check. Chilies? Big, huge, overgrown check. And we're soon to have garlic, too! (speaking of, does anybody know when you harvest garlic? That's the latest Google project, but so far I'm still stumped). 2. Oven Roasted Tomatoes Stuffed with Goat Cheese: I'm totally into taking healthy things and killing them with cheese, so this is right up my alley. 3. Pico de Gallo: Mexican food is a luxury that Canberrians have yet to embrace, so I've got to make my own. No matter what I make, though, it never tastes quite like home! 4. Tomato Pie: Found on my favorite recipe site, simplyrecipes.com. I've never made anything from there that wasn't marvelously delicious, so it's bound to be a winner. 5. Tomato Mozzerella Salad: Again with the cheese. 6. Festa al Fresco: This looks really yummy, but would require me to buy cherry tomatoes, which pretty much defeats the purpose. Still, I might try it with just stuff from the garden. 7. Fried Green Tomatoes: Why not? If anyone finds Rory's car at the bottom of Lake Burley Griffen, it was the tomatoes that did it. (And if you didn't get that joke, please watch the movie before you report me) 8. Tomato Chutney: Could be an interesting endevour. I've never really canned anything before, but might give it a go. I feel a bit like Bubba from Forest Gump. Tomato Soup, Tomato Pie, Roasted Tomatoes, Fried Tomaotes... I guess that's about all you can do with tomatoes!