What do you do when life gives you a case of tomatoes?

One day as I was walking home from school I noticed a large box by my front door. Curious,  I walked up the stairs. It obviously wasn't a delivery from Amazon. When I opened up the box I was surprised to see 75 freshly picked tomatoes from Southern Minnesota.

This summer's tomato crop was so abundant that it was considered a bumper crop. Our CSA farmer who is located in the Driftless region of Southern Minnesota was able to drop off the box that morning. Our family was able to make multiple Caprese Salads, fresh salsas, a variety of sauces, and a batch of tomato soup from this case of tomatoes. These are some of my favorite ways to use fresh summer tomatoes to create amazing dishes.

A Jar of Fresh Tomato Salsa

One Bowl Banana Bread

One of my favorite things to bake is banana bread. My whole family loves it. In fact, it is so appreciated in our household, that I always double the recipe in order to make two loaves.  I recently found a recipe for a one bowl preparation for banana bread, by Heidi Swanson. This recipe is the easiest but also makes some of the very tastiest banana breads.

Cold Sesame Noodles

Cold Sesame Noodles is something that I almost always crave. The oily richness with something fresh and crunchy always appeals to me. This dish can be made with just fresh and crunchy vegetables but can also be served with crunchy or sauteed tofu which will add some extra crunch. I found this recipe for Cold Sesame Noodles in Dinner Changing The Game by Melissa Clark. This is a cookbook that I absolutely love. The book is stacked with an endless amount of recipes that I hope I can make before summer ends. I will be posting a lot of recipes from this book this summer. So get ready for tons of delicious looking and tasting food.