Re: last week's beet soup recipe: it'll keep!! I learned too late that there weren't going to be any beets in last week's boxes, but I'm quite sure they'll come around again, so hang onto that recipe for when they do!

Now onto this week’s bounty: Tomatoes. Here are some simple preparations:
<> Cut them in thick slices, then top each slice w/a slice of fresh mozzarella and a basil leaf (or more than one leaf if the slices are big).
<> Toss cut up tomatoes w/a little olive oil, balsamic vinegar and fresh basil.
<> Cut up tomatoes and marinate in a dressing of oil, vinegar, salt, pepper & a few cloves crushed fresh garlic. Zing!

If you’re going to cook with them and don't know to peel a tomato, here's how (I have a vivid memory of my husband standing in the kitchen with a tomato in one hand, a peeler in the other, and a perplexed look on his face when a dish he was making for me called for peeled tomatoes): drop them into a pot of boiling water for anywhere from 10 to 30 seconds (varies with size and type of tomato; you have to experiment) then into a bowl of ice water. The skins should slip right off. I find that the dry farmed tomatoes seem to cling more desperately to their skins than most, but test it out yourself. Now for a recipe that uses those peeled tomatoes:

Deb’s Fresh Tomato Pasta Sauce

several ripe tomatoes, peeled & diced (and seeds squeezed out if you like)
olive oil, garlic, basil, salt & pepper
optional additions: splash of red wine, pinch or two of crushed dried red chilies, fennel seed, oregano, thyme...
further optional additions: chopped up onions, carrots and/or summer squash, diced eggplant, sliced mushrooms...

Crush & saute garlic in olive oil 'til fragrant. Add rest of ingredients, cover & simmer, stirring occasionally until sauce has slightly thickened. If using onion, saute this first then add the garlic etc. Its that simple!