cook: tomato all ways in 2 different lasagnas and soup

Our tomato crop did not produce until later in the summer, and it's become a 3-week harvest.  

After one harvest, I pureed a big bowl of tomatoes and put up 2 jars of marinara.                  

 

For another harvest, I cooked and refrigerated jars of heirloom tomato soup and cream of heirloom tomato soup. I didn't add cream to the larger jars of tomato soup, figuring they could keep longer at the back of the refrigerator until I simmered them with the additions of cream and chopped basil to slurp alongside grilled cheese sandwiches. The little jar, already prepared, came with me to school for lunch.      

And with jars of pasta sauce I made the previous day, I prepared a couple casseroles after buying fresh lasagna pasta, frying Italian sausage, mixing ricotta and scallions, and cooking a béchamel.    

 

One of the lasagnas was vegetarian, for which I grated and salted and squeezed dry a few zucchini squashes to incorporate with noodles, sauces, and cheeses--this casserole went into the freezer to eat sometime this fall or winter.

 

The other lasagna I prepared as a carnivore delight with leftover Bolognese, the Italian sausage...

 

...and pepperoni (decided to leave hubby's salami out).

Both lasagnas had more marinara and béchamel, and of course, ricotta mixed with scallions and grated Parmesan and Romano cheeses.

Both also had layers of rustic cut mozzarella.

Into a 350 degree oven atop a sheet pan went my carnivore lasagna...

... while I grated zucchini and mixed the vegetable with panko and egg to fry into fritters and eat with lasagna for dinner that evening.

After making Bolognese sauce, we were still harvesting lots of tomatoes, which I pureed and removed to a bowl. I then sautéed onion and garlic and added them into my blender with even more tomatoes.   

More of these heirloom tomatoes were yellow and green, but when cooked turned into a rich red.

 

While the tomatoes were simmering down into sauce and then processed in my canner, I also decanted my harvested oregano? marjoram? Either way, the herb smelled divine. My oregano jar was empty, and I use that herb a lot for Italian and Mexican cooking. I denuded all the twigs of their tiny leaves...

  

...and crushed the leaves in between my palms to shred and fit into the spice bottle. Done!

Also done were my two jars of marinara after that satisfying pop when pressurized.

I didn't add any lemon juice to the tomatoes, figuring the acid in the fruit themselves would be enough. And the next evening after a long day of running and then swimming and then working at school came my satisfying meal of cream of heirloom tomato and basil soup and grilled cheese. Afterwards I was in my happy place of sewing.        

And today is the first day of September and drove through a light rain to work and put on a hoodie, heralding the end of tomato season. Patrick pulled up all the tomato plants to get the winter crop into his garden. I'm tired already, but am looking forward anyway to a productive school and creative year.