It's  tomato season!
And for those of us who don't grow their own tomatoes, there are always our mothers' gardens in which comes a point when in the middle of summer they are bursting with tomatoes of various types. Summer to me begins to unfold in anticipation of paying a visit to my parents small ranch where I can eat organic juicy tomatoes as much as I want. Where my son would ask in delight ''Granny, where do you get these tomatoes from?'' and she would simply reply "From the garden."
Without these fresh garden-grown tomatoes, summer wouldn't be a real summer.
Tomatoes are packed with antioxidants and nutrients – potassium, folate, iron, vitamin C and vitamin A. These fruits, still vegetables for some, are truly versatile and can be prepared and consumed in thousands of different ways. My mom loves to make tomato juice out of her garden tomatoes and this year my sister and I took part in helping her. Well, I mostly documented the process.
It was fun, especially since mom used an old-fashion way for homemade tomato juice, familiar to her from years. Using only tomatoes, salt and parsley, she has always obtained a great delicious extract. Even though she owns numbers of kitchen gadgets, she has never left behind her favorite old red manual meat grinder, "The real old hand tools are often the best''.




my granny's hands
my sis's hands
my mom's hands




Homemade Tomato Juice Recipe:  

(makes about  26 small bottles)

Ingredients:
6 kg/13.2 lbs garden tomatoes; use preferably ripest tomatoes;
1 cup chopped parsley;
3 tablespoon salt;

Method:
Wash tomatoes and remove their skin. Slice and put tomatoes through a grinder to puree. Add salt and parsley. Put juice in bottles and cook for approximately 1 hour.

You can use tomato juice in pretty much anything you can imagine that tomatoes would taste good in! Soups, stews, pizzas, or spaghetti. It can add a great flavor to whatever sauce you are making as well as cocktails. 

 Cheers!
 









While watching these bright red tomatoes, a wave of happiness has splashed my body. 
An urge to celebrate what is right in front of me was burning my soul. I am thankful and filled with gratitude for all the small blessings in my life.
Candy Paull in her book defines abundance perfectly:
"Abundance is not how much I own, but how much I appreciate"







Today, my definition sounds like this:
Abundance is an antique wooden bowl full of bright red garden tomatoes.
Abundance is three generation hands together in making a tomato juice.
Abundance is treasuring those simple old-fashion ways of doing things.


Where do you find abundance right now, dear friends?


Thank you for your visit!