Full Disclosure

In the interests of full disclosure (this is for you, Friko,) most of the tomatoes I showed yesterday came from Justin's and Claui's amazing garden.  They have around 200 plants and were happy for me to come pick. (My thirty-some plants have been hard hit by blight and wild turkeys.)

And continuing in the disclosure mode -- when I process tomatoes, whether to can or to cook into sauce that will go into the freezer -- I don't blanch and peel my tomatoes.

If I were entering a competition at the county fair, I would.  But this is food for my family and none of us are put off by bits of tomato peel from our unsprayed tomatoes.  And I save enormous chunks of time and energy.
 

The way I prepare eggplant for the freezer is simplicity itself. Wash, slice, put on baking sheets with olive oil and seasoned salt, bake at 350 F till softened. I put these slices into freezer bags to resurrect for a moussaka or eggplant parmesan.  I can also chop them and add to pasta sauce. Or blend up with garlic and tahini into baba ganoush. Yum!