Freezing Garden Tomatoes -Stewed Tomatoes

Hey everyone! How are your tomato plants treating you? Seems to be a good year here in Philly! My neighbor just brought over some of his extras and I decided to make Stewed Tomatoes. I'll store them in the freezer for use this winter. There are some good ideas for extra tomatoes HERE. If you'd like, you can mix the veggies and let the crock pot cook them either over night or while you're at work.

You can also simply freeze just the tomatoes, peel, core/slice, seed and then freeze in Food Saver or zip top bags. I hear they can also be frozen whole, but it seems that would take up lots of room.

I used 10 slicing tomatoes and ended up with approximately 4 1/2 cups of stewed tomatoes.

Stewed Tomatoes
6-8 large ripe tomatoes
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 C celery, chopped
1/4 C green pepper, chopped
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp dried basil
1 small bay leaf
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2 Tblsp parsley, chopped-I forgot to add this

1. Dip tomatoes in boiling water for less than one minute, plunge in iced water and peel them.
2. Quarter tomatoes and remove core and seeds. I cut each piece in half again.
3. In slow cooker or big pot combine everything except parsley.
4. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours. Or, simmer on the stove for about 15-20 minutes until the tomatoes are tender and other veggies are soft.
5. Remove bay leaf, add parsley. 
6. Cool and place in freezer bags or plastic containers. Freeze.
7. Note: Recipe can be doubled and still fit into a 3.5 quart crock pot.

Have a happy day:@)