I am a HUGE fan of Alton Brown and often stay up late watching his shows. I caught one on making tomato sauce and think (without being overly dramatic) it changed my life.

I bought 20 pounds of Roma tomatoes from the Boulder Farmers Market and got ready to make some sauce. 20 pounds of tomatoes turns out to be a lot of tomatoes. Alton Brown’s recipe calls for 20 Roma tomatoes, cut in half and seeded. I used more like 60 Roma tomatoes, cut in half and seeded, and ran out of Pyrex baking dishes for roasting.

Just as a side note… I did not even come close to using all 20 pounds of tomatoes in this batch of sauce. The rest were used in a Grilled Roma Tomato Sauce, which turned out really good, so I repeated that recipe (basically tripled it) and made 4 jars to freeze for future use.

But, back to my Alton Brown-inspired sauce. I washed, cut in half, and seeded as many tomatoes as would fit in 6 Pyrex baking dishes. Then I coarsely chopped an entire bulb of locally grown garlic and a large yellow onion and tried to evenly distribute the garlic and onion throughout my 6 dishes. I drizzled olive oil over all of the tomatoes and sprinkled them with sea salt. It’s really quite simple.

Then, into the oven! 2 hours at 325 is a long time, so don’t plan to make this sauce if you need to leave the house.

I shuffled the baking dishes every 45 minutes or so to be sure they were evenly heated. After 2 hours, Brown suggests cranking the heat to 400 so the tomatoes caramelize for 30 minutes.

They come out of the oven looking beautiful and delicious. I let them cool and then scooped them in manageable batches into the Vita-Mix to blend them into a smooth sauce. This sauce, I must say, is FANTASTIC! Absolutely worth the time and effort, I promise.

In the end, I wound up with these 4 jars, which I froze for future use. I will let you know how I use them.

Happy cooking!

I took off the skins and took out the pits of two avocados. Then I covered them in a little olive oil and lemon juice and grilled them hollow side down for 3-4 minutes.

Garden fresh inspiration can lead to a really good meal.

I altered my Blue Corn Cakes recipe and came up with some delicately delicious yellow corn cakes.

Green Onion Corn Cakes Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup water
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup yellow corn meal
• 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup unbleached white flour
• 1.5 tsp baking powder (a little less at altitude)
• 1 tsp baking soda (a little less at altitude)
• pinch sea salt
• 1 cup chopped green onion

I made these for dinner and drizzled them with a ginger rhubarb sauce.

Ginger Rhubarb Sauce:

• 3 stalks rhubarb, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 2 tsp freshly grated ginger
• 1 tsp cornstarch (optional)

I bought some local beets, so I chopped the stems separately from the leaves. I sauteed the stems in a little white wine until they got soft. Then I added the leaves and let them wilt. Add a little sea salt and pepper, and all of this can be served together.

The Ginger Rhubarb Sauce pairs well with both the Green Onion Corn Cakes and the sauteed Beet Greens. Enjoy.

I got this recipe from My Year On The Grill, and it was so fast, so easy, and so delicious, that I added it to my “favorites” category on my blog. Here is the original blog post I visited for this month’s Taste & Create.

I bought Asiago imported from Italy, Oregon blue cheese, and bulk walnuts.

Simply grate the asiago, crumble the blue cheese, and chop the nuts. Place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake at 300 for approximately 10 minutes.

Try not to eat them all at once.