What to do with fresh cherry tomatoes? Last week we posted about ideas for fresh garden tomatoes as part of ourIdeas for using fresh garden veggiesseries. Well, Cherry Tomatoes are just different enough that we decided they deserved their own focus because their uses are differents on many fronts. However, don’t miss the fresh garden tomatoes post as many of the ideas will work for these too!
Well, with that, let’s talk about these fancy, sweet, bite sized, goodness!
Fresh Cherry Tomatoes Idea #1 –Cream Cheese Stuffed Cherry Tomato Tulips
These are so good and so fun! You and your friends/family will love this take on cherry tomatoes. We have shared the recipe and instructions for Cream Cheese Stuffed Cherry Tomato Tulips HERE
Fresh Cherry Tomatoes Idea #2 – Quick and Easy Salsa Recipe
Making a quick, easy and simple salsa is a great use for Cherry Tomatoes. Check out the recipe for Easy Healthy Salsa HERE.
Fresh Cherry Tomatoes Idea #3 – Stuffed Cherry Tomato Appetizer or Snack
Stuffed cherry tomatoes are a fun way to go…. why? Well, kids will eat them, they are eye candy at parties, they are easy and they are healthy.
You can stuff them with many ideas, soft cheeses, ranch mixed with sour cream, a piece of feta marinated in olive oil and Italian seasoning, a piece of mozzarella is simple elegant and yummy too, etc. You can be quite creative!
Here’s some specific recipes using cream cheese and greek yogurt for stuffed cherry tomatoes that are GREAT with any vegetable!
- Mix equal parts of creamcheeseand plain Greek yogurt, minced garlic or garlic paste, dried rosemary and dill weed (all to taste) and stuff the cherry tomatoes.
- Mix equal parts of creamcheeseand plain Greek yogurt with dry ranch mix to taste and stuff the cherry tomatoes.
Also, sticking them with toothpicks helps to display and eat the tomatoes with ease! A piece of mozzarella cheese is a fun and tasty addition.
Fresh Cherry Tomatoes Idea #4 – Cherry Tomato Kabobs or Skewers
This is another idea that is a great snack or appetizer for kids, parties or just because. Again, healthy, easy, tasty and fun!
The recipe is a very classic Italian appetizer.
It’s very simple to make:
3 bite-sized mozzarella balls (bocconcini) PER skewer. (HINT: for a frugal alternative, chunks of mozzarella from a block or cheese sticks cut into 4th’s works fine too – might not be as soft and fancy, but still tastes GREAT!)
4 cherry tomatoes PER skewer
3 basil leaves PER skewer
Dahes of fresh chives, finely chopped
salt and freshly ground pepper
Drizzles of extra-virgin olive oil
Also, I happen to have a Spicy Italian Spice Grinder which is awesome dashed on top! I got this at Kroger, you don’t have to use this, it’s just a fun addition. The bottle says it has these spices: rosemary, black pepper, red pepper, garlic, onion, sea salt, tomato, parsley. Perhaps a mixture of these would be good 🙂
To make: Simply thread the mozzarella, tomatoes and basil leaves onto skewers in alternating order – starting and ending with cherry tomatoes. Repeat until all of the ingredients have been used. Transfer the skewers to a serving platter and sprinkle with the chives. Season with salt and pepper (or special seasonings shared above), drizzle with a bit of olive oil and serve. They can also “marinate” in the fridge for a short time to prepare before hand.
We also came across grilled cherry tomato skewers on the Health.com site and these look amazing too!
The recipe for the grilled cherry tomato skewers is on the Health.com site HERE.
Fresh Cherry Tomatoes Idea #5 – How to Pickle Cherry Tomatoes
Another great idea is to make pickled cherry tomatoes. This is also a great way to preserve them for a longer term time!
There is an easy recipe for Pickled Cherry Tomatoes HERE on the Chicagoist site.
Fresh Cherry Tomatoes Idea #6 – How to Freeze Cherry Tomatoes
Finally, if you run out of ideas and recipes, you can just freeze them!
Finally, just like we have shared the process with the previous veggies in our series, we do also want to share the easy process of freezing cherry tomatoes.
These are so ridiculously easy to freeze, that it is really the last minute no-brainer way to save instead of toss out. You don’t have to blanch them like you do all other veggies because tomatoes are actually a fruit! The process of freezing is actually just like freezing somefruit – wash, dry, lay on a cookie sheet, place cookie sheet flat in freeze. Freeze overnight, transfer to a gallon size ziploc and store in the deep freeze long term! That’s it!
And similar to the vegetables, you really cannot defrost and eat. Frozen produce rarely works this way. They will need to be used in sauces and cooked dishes.
What do you plan to do with your cherry tomatoes?
Keep watching for more ideas on using your garden veggies as we have many more veggies recipes and ideas to share this summer with you as you make the most of your garden and farmer’s market finds!
For actual garden ideas, we wanted to remind you that we have been sharing so many gardening ideas on ourGarden Gallery of Ideas HERE,Pinterest HEREandFacebook HEREthat we hope you are seeing some incredible results with your homegrown food supply. And, as always, we will continue to share gardening tips and ideas on all our site.
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