Tip of the day - A cure for overripe tomatoes

This past summer our next door neighbors were exceedingly generous with tomatoes fresh from their garden. The problem was, though, that with a newborn baby and no sleep - I often would forget the tomatoes on the counter for a few days and end up with a disastrous mess of mealy tomatoes that had to be chucked to the compost heap.

Sadly, I forgot that there's an easy way to salvage overripe tomatoes. Place the overripe tomato in cold water and add a little salt. Let sit overnight. In the morning, you'll find the tomato has firmed up and is less mealy.

If that doesn't work, you can always run them through the food processor or blender and reduce down to make a sauce. And I may have mentioned it before, but never store tomatoes inside the refrigerator. It causes them to break down faster. Instead they should be stored at room temperature, away from direct sunlight.