Roasted Tomato Soup

It's a bit of an understatement to say that we have tomatoes. We've been picking cherry tomatoes for weeks now and I've already dried many pounds of those and now our regular ones are coming in. On Thursday Breanne picked almost 50 lbs and I knew it was time to figure out how we were going to preserve these guys.

Last year I made a tomato soup that the kids loved and lasted for a few months, so I thought that would be a good start. I wanted to be able to can it again, so that meant no butter or cream in the recipe. You can always add cream in later when you warm it up but I wanted something that would stand on it's own.

Tomatoes Stuffed with Fresh Mozzarella and Basil

This is a slightly different take on the traditional Caprese Salad and came as a result of this months Daring Cooks challenge. The challenge this month was to create an edible container and something to go in it. I actually had a really hard time coming up with something, I just kept trying to think of something really "different". While this combination isn't entirely unique, it's spring time here and this is one of my favorite flavor combinations. Fresh Mozzarella paired with a thick juicy tomato and a basil leaf is so refreshing and a perfect entrance to the great food season to come.  The basil vinaigrette is a vibrant green that adds additional flavor and can be added to taste.

Potato Gnocchi with Roasted Tomatoes and Gorgonzola Cream

Late last fall I had the opportunity to see Chef Tom Douglas do a cooking demonstration in Minneapolis as part of the Macy's Culinary Council. He's a great chef and owns multiple restaurants in the Seattle area so I was excited to see him and also participate in my first chef demo. I really enjoyed his presentation and ended up buying one of his cookbooks titled "Seattle Kitchen" that features many of the recipes from his restaurants.