This week, we finished up clearing out the old wooden beds in the Creekside gardens and feeling thankful for the cooler late summer days. We also had a fantastic visit from Lori Tucker-Sullivan and Mary Sullivan this week, masked up and socially distanced! We toured the Sullivan Memorial Garden, the late Kevin Sullivan’s legacy. The Sullivan family’s continued generosity and commitment to the program makes a great difference in our goal to bring more fresh fruits and vegetables to our students.
Late summer harvests are now coming in. We continue to see swiss chard, shishito peppers, hot dragon toe peppers, zucchinis and cucumbers. Most excitingly, the cherry tomatoes are ripening and we got our first pound of harvest this week!
Honestly, I used to hate tomatoes in all forms. I thought they were either too tart or too watery, without flavor. The magic happened when I first ate a cherry tomato ripe and straight off the vine. It was delicious, sweet, and flavorful and now I think of cherry tomatoes as garden candy. For the last two summers, I have grown tomatoes or cherry tomatoes in home container gardens. Not only do they save you a lot of money in the long run but tomatoes are so versatile and nutritious.
Cherry tomatoes are rich in vitamin C, A, potassium and iron. 1 cup of cherry tomatoes meets 21% of your vitamin C daily recommended intake! I love roasting cherry tomatoes until they are bursting then adding them to a rice bowl, as a side with eggs and toast or making a fresh pasta.
Weekly Recipe
Baked Eggs on a Bed of Roasted Cherry Tomatoes adapted from Cookie and Kate
Ingredients
2 pints of cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1 garlic clove minced
1/4 cup basil chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
sea salt
black pepper
4 eggs
Directions
– Preheat oven to 400 Fahrenheit
– On a baking tray, add the cherry tomatoes, a few cracks of sea salt, black pepper and olive oil. Mix to combine and distribute in an even layer.
– Bake cherry tomatoes for 12 minutes.
– Remove from oven. Crack eggs into the baking sheet and add garlic and parmesan. Return to the oven for another 8 to 10 minutes until the whites are cooked but the yolk is still soft.
– Remove from the oven, sprinkle chopped basil and serve!