I’ve been given the go ahead to eat tomatoes by my surgeon, but my diet is still super restrictive for the next month. And our tomato plants are starting to produce a lot of tomatoes and I don’t want them to go to waste. Problem is, everything I would normally make with tomatoes is some kind of sandwich, burger, or salsa - but I can’t have any of those (nor can I have chips of any kind due to sharp edges).
Could you all suggest some options? There’s a lot of stuff I didn’t list that I still can’t eat, so not all suggestions would be valid, but I’m hoping you might hit some ideas of stuff I can.
More info from posts further down:
What can pass into my stomach without getting stuck or damaging the reconstruction of my esophagus to my stomach.
Nearly all meats are out because they can get stuck. Same with breads (dough). So anything slippery and not chunky is fine. Small pasta is fine, as are eggs that are not fried to a crisp on outside. Veggies are not OK unless they are cooked so they’re no longer fibrous or dense. I forgot to mention I cannot have any salad greens. I cannot have corn even if it’s cooked grrrr. Cooked rice and barley is OK, but I cannot have sushi as the rice is sticky so that’s a bummer.
Sliced tomato with a bit of salt (one of my favorite ways to eat real tomatoes)
Tomato-basil salad. If you have fresh basil, start with just the tomatoes, sliced up basil leaves, balsamic vinegar and olive oil. If you’re allowed, you can add things like red onion, garlic, etc.
What can pass into my stomach without getting stuck or damaging the reconstruction of my esophagus to my stomach.
Nearly all meats are out because they can get stuck. Same with breads (dough). So anything slippery and not chunky is fine. Small pasta is fine, as are eggs that are not fried to a crisp on outside. Veggies are not OK unless they are cooked so they’re no longer fibrous or dense. I forgot to mention I cannot have any salad greens. I cannot have corn even if it’s cooked grrrr. Cooked rice and barley is OK, but I cannot have sushi as the rice is sticky so that’s a bummer.
Tomato sauce, freeze it, it keeps a really long time. Tomato jam instead if you have good and really ripe tomatoes for it. If you want to go down a specific path, Bolognese sauce is awesome.
Tomato soup or gazpacho are both awesome, I think both are freezable as well.
We usually throw together what we call a semi-Greek salad, which is just really fresh diced tomatoes, olives of various types, some feta cheese and zucchini/cucumber/onion (depending on who likes what.) So good. We call it semi-greek because truly we’re taking the idea but just using it to get rid of some summer vegetables.
Mid-summer tomato sandwiches were always the real deal when we were growing up. Fresh and soft white bread, mayonnaise on both sides, big fat slices of hearty tomatoes and salt and pepper. Delicious.
@gruntled - forgot to mention I can’t have salad otherwise I’d be goin salad crazy.
@CraigM Fish Stew. Awesome idea! I will have to look that up.
@skipper - I’d love to do tomato sandwich, but I can’t have any kind of bread. But I will try and make a Tomato bisque soup as I love the cream of bisque’s and your list made me think of that.
Some soup ideas. A tomato basil bisque is simple and hearty and tasty. Theres hundreds of recipes, so find one you like.
Or a vegie stew I like. Alter as needed per your requirements.
Beef stock
Onion
Carrots (for you mandolin thin slice to 1/8” so they are mushy)
Cabbage
Olive oil
Potato
Barley
Rice
Tomato diced
Basically take the onions and cook in a tablespoon of olive or vegie oil until translucent. Add diced veggies and beef broth and cook until soft. Omit or add any veggies as per choice. Season with bay leaves, oregano, basil, and salt. Go light on salt depending on the broth.
But you can replace any or all of the ingredients. But it serves as a base.
This. And tofu for protein. It doesn’t have much flavor, so I sliced it up in the salads, and you can get silken tofu which should slide right down, as it’s somewhere between cheese and yogurt in consistency.
I can’t have salady things including basil, nor veges that are uncooked like onion, garlic etc. I’ll have to see if Tofu is allowed as that would be a good source of protein.
Roughly it is made in a large skillet or similar that can go from stove to oven. I use an onion, a pepper (I like red for it,) some cloves of garlic, two cans of diced tomatoes (you could sub in your tomatoes,) a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste,4-5 eggs, cumin (seeds if you have them, powder if not,) cayenne powder, paprika powder, salt and pepper.
Also roughly because I don’t have the recipe I went off of:
Dice the onion and peppers well.
(Optional Pro-Tip) Temper just a little bit of olive oil on low heat in a skillet and add in some cumin seeds if you have them. Let them bloom on low for a couple of minutes.
Add the onion to the skillet and soften it quite a bit on medium-low heat in some olive oil.
As it softens, add in the pepper. Soften that as well, again over low heat.
When those are nice and soft (15-20 minutes,) add in chopped garlic and cook another minute or two on low so the flavor will spread. Add in the powders at this time, even cumin if that’s only in powder form. Add in salt and pepper.
After that, add in the diced tomatoes and tomato paste. Cook, keeping the same cooking temp until the tomatoes water out and reduce somewhat. This is going to be as thick or not as you want, so you’re shooting for something runny that makes a nice sauce over the top of other breakfast fare. While this is going on, preheat your oven to about 350.
Once the sauce is reduced to your liking, recheck your seasoning tastes.
(Optional Pro-Tip #2) Add feta cheese at this time. Just sprinkle it on top.
Turn off the stove heat and crack eggs onto the top of the dish. Transfer the skillet to the oven.
Here is the key, you want those eggs “over medium” in consistency. That will take from 5-10 minutes in the oven depending on your oven. Keep an eye on the dish. Since they keep cooking after removal a bit, I go for them being just kind of set. The dish will come out and they will finish that way.
Top it with spring onion, chives, cliantro, etc.
Typically you serve this with bread or pitas. You could soften the bread with it too. Or you can eat it as-is, it’s delicious.
Coming out of the oven with eggs just starting to set (note that I like eggs runny, so you can set them just a touch longer than this where you just start to see white all the way around the eggs.:)
I should also add, it’s kind of a spicy dish but not everyone likes it that way. Spice it up with the cayenne or other peppers, or serve it with hot sauce.
