When Life Gives You (Lemons) Yellow Pear Tomatoes

In May when our hopes were soaring high about summer gardens and planting, Tony bought "Roma" tomato plants from a local nursery.  Obviously the flat was mislabeled because the stalks and leaves grew much larger than any plum tomato plant we ever had.  And also because these were the fruits of our labor:

 My daughter-in-law suggested I write about this unfortunate event in our gardening history.  She even gave me the title:  When Live Gives You Lemons or Yellow Tomatoes

You must understand that it's in Tony's DNA to grow RED meaty Roma tomatoes every summer.  He derives much pleasure from watching the plants grow, staking them, pruning, and then finally, making quarts and quarts of beautiful tomato sauce for the winter.  By this time every year my counter is usually lined with dozens of tomatoes ready for cooking. This year Tony resorted to buying bushels of lovely red plum tomatoes from local farmers and made his sauce.  His disappointment in our harvest didn't stop him!

Last week I decided to pick as many of these small yellow tomatoes as I could and try to cook something with them.  Tony took the lead and made a beautiful sauce flavored with lots of garlic, Italian spices, and Romano cheese.  It looked more like corn chowder than tomato sauce:)

I used it to make a lasagna and it was wonderful!  I also sliced a bunch in half and dehydrated them for pizza toppings.  They really are sweet and delicious.

So I guess my little life lesson here is to be ready for surprises, work with what I have, and not quickly be disappointed.  Sometimes things work out in ways I could never anticipate or expect!