6 tasty recipes using heirloom tomatoes

Heirloom tomato season is in full swing and Marin mama can’t get enough of them. I simply LOVE heirloom tomatoes!  Heirloom tomatoes are sweet, juicy and have an intense one of a kind flavor, they’re not bland like most grocery store varieties. Because heirloom season is short (only 3 months) I tend to get a bit obsessed with them and eat them daily if I can.

So I thought I would share with you all 6 tasty and easy recipes that incorporate heirloom tomatoes. I’ve even tossed in 2 new recipes ideas into this post.  So go out and grab a couple of heirloom tomatoes today and make one of the below recipes this week. Your taste buds will be thanking me…

By the way, I’m now writing a monthly food column for the Marin Independent Journal.  Yippee, Whoo Hoo! My first column showcased a recipe using heirloom tomatoes, of course!  Hey, I just admitted that I’m a bit obsessed! I’m so excited to be writing for the local paper. My column will run the 3rd Wednesday of each month, so feel free to check it out if you want! 

Grilled bruschetta with heirloom tomatoes.

This bruschetta is SO EASY to make, just take some crusty french bread, rub it with bit of garlic, grill it up and then top it with some sliced heirlooms, olive oil, a splash of balsamic and sliced basil, and you have the perfect summer side to any meal. Make it a meal and pair it with a kid friendly caesar salad and some Israeli couscous salad (which you can also add some heirloom tomatoes to in lieu of cherry tomatoes, see I am obsessed) and you have yourself an easy meatless summer-time meal to enjoy on the deck!  

Heirloom tomato soup.

 Ok, for those of you that know me, know that I’m totally obsessed with this soup. This soup is vegan, pure and made with such simple and fresh seasonal ingredients. It’s creamy without the cream, and it honestly doesn’t taste like your typical tomato soup, as its sweeter and not acidic. My kids and friends go crazy for this soup and can’t wait for heirloom tomato season each year, so we can make batches upon batches of this soup.

We love pairing this soup with a grilled cheese with roasted broccoli sandwich for an easy meatless Monday meal or a batch of popovers!
We also love pairing this soup with a simple cheese quesadilla. This soup literally pairs with just about anything!

Heirloom tomato and avocado toast.

This is pretty much my go-to lunch everyday in the summer!  It’s SO easy and SO tasty!  You can make it 2 simple ways.  All you need are 4 simple ingredients!

Heirloom tomato and avocado toast:

• sliced bread. We love using a bread from Della Fattoria.  It’s local and so fresh!  The best!  We also love using pre-sliced Dave’s killer bread.
• avocado
• heirloom tomato, sliced thin
• coarse sea salt

Bruschetta style:

1. Slice up some of your favorite bread.
2. Brush both sides of the bread with some olive oil.
3. Put the bread under the broiler until both sides are browned to your liking.
4. Cut an avocado in half, take a fork and smash it onto the bread.
5. Top the avocado with a sliced heirloom tomato.
6. Top the tomato with some coarse sea salt.

Easy lunch-time toast:

1. Take 2 slices of bread.
2. Put the bread in the toaster.
3. Cut an avocado in half, take a fork and smash it onto the bread.
4. Top the avocado with a sliced heirloom tomato.
5. Top the tomato with some coarse sea salt.

Bacon, avocado and heirloom tomato toast.  

This is not really a recipe, but a great way to jazz up the old BLT.  We call this a BAT (bacon, avocado and tomato) instead of a BLT 😉

We just omitted the lettuce for some avocado!  This is an easy peasy kid-approved weeknight dinner or lunch!  Just toast up some of your favorite sliced bread, take a fork and smash half of an avocado onto one slice, top it with a sliced heirloom tomato, add a few slices of bacon and maybe add a bit of mayo, and voila, you have yourself one amazing sandwich! Yum!

Heirloom tomato gazpacho.

If you’re more a fan of a cold soup in the summer, then you have to try this gazpacho. Gazpacho is seriously the perfect summer soup for many reasons. First off, it’s a cold soup, so it’s the perfect soup to sip on a hot summer day or night. Secondly, it doesn’t require you to heat up a stove or oven, which is bonus when it’s 90 plus degrees out. I call it the lazy mans soup because when your tired and famished all you have to do is pull out a batch from the fridge, pour it in a bowl and eat away.

It’s also a great weekday soup because it takes under 30 minutes to make, just chop up the fresh ingredients and toss them in a blender! Make a batch in the morning while the kids are eating breakfast, or before you rush off to work, and when you come home all tired from a long day, you dinner will be ready! How nice does that sound?

Quinoa with tomatoes, cucumber, parsley and mint:

This is the perfect healthy summer salad! It’s chock-full of fresh herbs, cucumbers and heirloom tomatoes, which are at their ripest in the summer months. This salad is BURSTING with FLAVOR! I might even say that it’s a bit better the next day when all of the flavors had a chance to meld together! It’s the perfect salad for a summer lunch, side dish for dinner, as well as the quintessential salad to bring to your next potluck or picnic. It’s easy to whip up, and can be made a day ahead! Awesome!

Another item that I’m a bit obsessed with is quinoa. I’ll be sharing with you all these easy one-pan Mexican quinoa wraps. This is such an easy dinner and makes great leftovers! Yum!Ok, go out and pick up some heirlooms today! Hey, if you make one of the above recipes, please let me know which one you made and how it turned out for you!  I would love to hear from you!

xoxo, Marin mama