Surplus Tomatoes and Hot peppers - Drink recipe?
 

I had a great year for my garden this year, with lot's of rain and lot's of sun.
We have a big basket full of Beefsteak and cherry tomatoes, and a large amount of hot banana peppers.
We were planning on making salsa and preserving it, but I just had a thought:
Does anyone here have a good recipe for vegetable drinks? I love V8, but last time I tried to make a veggie smoothy - well let's just say I could hardly chke it down, and wouldn't try it the same way again.
Anyone know the secret to making a nice, smooth veggie drink?

Re: Surplus Tomatoes and Hot peppers - Drink recipe?
 

Add vodka and call it a Caesar.

Re: Surplus Tomatoes and Hot peppers - Drink recipe?
 

hehehehe....
yummy!

Re: Surplus Tomatoes and Hot peppers - Drink recipe?
 

What are the ingredients in V8? Does it contain MSG? (maybe masked by something named yeast extract, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, glutamate, caseinate, etc..)

And the secret to making a smooth veggie drink is to separate the pulp. If you using a blender, pour it through a cheesecloth or some other filter so you just get the juice. Otherwise there are juicing machines specifically designed with a centrifuge so only the juice ends up in the drink and the dry pulp is ejected to a trash bin.

Of course, you lose a bit of important nutrients from that pulp, but if you want a smooth drink that's the trade-off.

Re: Surplus Tomatoes and Hot peppers - Drink recipe?
 

I could probably use the pulp in a salsa or something, no?

Re: Surplus Tomatoes and Hot peppers - Drink recipe?
 

You need a juicer to make veggie drinks, otherwise, if made in a blender like smoothies, they are overly thick and unpalatable.

As far as making hot sause...I just made some fire roasted salsa using the Roma tomatoes and jalape�os, and habaneros from the garden...the other ingredients came from the store. I take all the veggies (tomatoes, peppers, onion, garlic) and roast them on the grill, then I put everything in the blender and add cilantro, comino, seasalt and blend just enough to mix all the ingredients. I put in about 6 or 7 jalape�os, 4 or 5 habaneros and this stuff will put a bead of sweat on your forehead...but it is so good, if you like it hot.

Re: Surplus Tomatoes and Hot peppers - Drink recipe?
 

Two words:
Masticating Juicer

Re: Surplus Tomatoes and Hot peppers - Drink recipe?
 

Word of caution..we can a lot..over 100 quarts of tomatoes and salsa

Fresh salsa will last most 2-3 days...if you plan to can tomatoes a hot pack is ok because of the acidity...

If you plan to can salsa I would highly suggest a pressure cooker...not fun but a heck of a lot safer.

Re: Surplus Tomatoes and Hot peppers - Drink recipe?
 

i used to own a juicer years ago and juiced a lot of apples/carrots.


i hated throwing away the pulp and i found a recipe to make some sort of bread/cake using the pulp...quite nice.


do a websearch for usage of vegetable pulp

Re: Surplus Tomatoes and Hot peppers - Drink recipe?
 

We put up about 10 gallons of our version of v-8 this year. We like a bit of pulp. We process the tomatoes with a passa poma d'oro. The Victorio Strainer is a light weight version of that. The onions, beets, celery. carrots, cucumbers, green peppers, hot peppers and garlic go through a heavy Jack LaLane jucier and are added to taste to the tomato juice. Don't use too many beets. They over power everything. Don't forget salt and a bit of lemon juice to help preseve the color.

Re: Surplus Tomatoes and Hot peppers - Drink recipe?
 

I have a kinda veggie smoothie most days. Stuff from the garden. A beet with the greens, a carrot, some kale or chard, and maybe a pepper, tomato, whatever is ready from the garden. Add some fresh pineapple/OJ or green tea and honey (gonna try this stevia stuff when i get around to buying some)to sweeten it up a bit. few ice cubes. Nuke it in the BlendTec. Get in mah belly!

Re: Surplus Tomatoes and Hot peppers - Drink recipe?
 

Is a Champion Juicer a masticating juicer? I have a Champion and a Swiss made Torek centrifugal juicer and the Swiss juicer is by far better (IMO) for pulp free vegetable juice.

I like to make vegetable juice concoctions and one of my favorites is a spring tonic: carrot (4 or 5), beet (1), fresh ginger (inch or so), and apple (1)...in the Champion it is thick and pulpy, in the centrifugal it is smooth and refreshing.

Re: Surplus Tomatoes and Hot peppers - Drink recipe?
 

You can grow your own stevia... I've done it.
Even fresh, the leaf is very sweet. :bull-buddy-icon:

Re: Surplus Tomatoes and Hot peppers - Drink recipe?
 

I tried canning salsa in the pressure cooker and it made a huge mess. The pressure in the jars lifted the lids enough to push the rings off on 4 of 5 jars.

What is the right way to do it? I had them at 15# for 30 min.

btw, my solution for too many tomatoes is chili sauce, governors sauce, minestrone, veggie beef soup, and black bean and corn salsa. only enough of each to last a year or so. i had beans, potatoes, zucchini, peppers and pears to use up as well.

Re: Surplus Tomatoes and Hot peppers - Drink recipe?
 

Salsa is a great Idea, I love it. But unfortunately others in my family don't like it as much as I do. My girlfriend eats a LOT of pasta, so when I get an abundance of tomatoes I like to make homemade spaghetti sauce and freeze it. Nothing like fresh garden tomato sauce in the middle of winter. MMMM. There are many recipes out there on how to make it. I explain a basic way to make it on my blog...

http://www.crazykook.com/wordpress/?p=305

I'm not sure on veggie drinks. But if you like pasta I would definitely try to make a pasta sauce, mmmm. It usually tastes so good I've been known to just eat the sauce by itself with no pasta at times =P. If you have the hot peppers though, and a family who likes salsa. I would probably make as much salsa as possible.

Re: Surplus Tomatoes and Hot peppers - Drink recipe?
 

Thanks for the post, Serj! I'll check out your blog!

Re: Surplus Tomatoes and Hot peppers - Drink recipe?
 

okay quit holding back...give up your salsa recipee...

:D

lately i've been on a fresh homemade salsa kick but honestly i don't have a clue what i'm doing....

this is pretty much the mix i have been using so far....

tomatoes
garden onion
red onion
fresh jalepeno peppers
green bell pepper
cilantro
green chiles (canned)
jalepeno juice out of jar of sliced jalepeno's

does anybody have any suggestions other than whats been added to this thread so far...

i want to be good at this...in the future i'll be adding a fresh garlic clove or two...

i was thinking about adding black olives, but i don't know why...

Re: Surplus Tomatoes and Hot peppers - Drink recipe?
 

Your recipe is distinctly lacking garlic. That is requisite. Something to try that is surprisingly good flavor and feel is kale and/or carrots added to the blend.

Re: Surplus Tomatoes and Hot peppers - Drink recipe?
 

i like that combination...but i would squeeze a lime into it and of course a smidge of garlic cant be bad

Re: Surplus Tomatoes and Hot peppers - Drink recipe?
 

thank you !

i took your suggestions and made some salsa up tonight adding some grated carrot, finely diced garlic cloves and a splash of freshly squeezed lime juice...

i couldn't find any kale at the grocery store i was at today...so that will have to wait for another time...

i love this stuff...:emotions16:

this batch will last about 4 days....
....

Re: Surplus Tomatoes and Hot peppers - Drink recipe?
 

Ooooh! Looks yummy!

My wife made Slasa with some of it out of the Tomatos and Hot Banana peppers, and then made this experimental dish that is much like Lasagna without pasta, and loaded with Spinach. Very good stuff!

Re: Surplus Tomatoes and Hot peppers - Drink recipe?
 

FWIW, About a year ago I discovered the amazing utility of a little tool known as a garlic press. I practically never chop garlic anymore.
http://www.dkimages.com/discover/DKI.../776/90544.JPG
It's the perfect consistency for salsa, btw.

Re: Surplus Tomatoes and Hot peppers - Drink recipe?
 

I made Brunswick Stew to use up a ton of accumulated tomatoes. It freezes in food saver packages well... I also made a lot of stuffed tomatoes. I actually stuffed everything in the fridge that was acculating from the garden. Squash, eggplant, peppers and tomatoes all tasted great stuffed.
I don't eat hot peppers but my husband likes to grow them. I string them and hang then for decoration in the kitchen.

Re: Surplus Tomatoes and Hot peppers - Drink recipe?
 

Care to share the recipe, Avalon?

EDIT - For the Brunswick stew....