southwestern stuffed tomatoes straight from the farm

By foodiemama

this was so good and comforting. i had just picked up my co-op box yesterday and had plenty of tomatoes to add to my fridge already bursting with heirlooms, Roma's and beefsteaks. after scouring the internet for recipes i decided on stuffed tomatoes. i admit that it took until this year to really love a farm fresh, blood red, sweet and juicy tomato. the key is to get them straight from the source and a natural source at that. the ones you pick up in the market, even my beloved trader joes and my least fav these days whole foods.. they are bland and un-appealing. never will i purchase supermarket tomatoes.. yuck!

the flavors can be totally interchangeable for whatever your feeling.. italian style, greek, indian, etc. we had a hankering for mexican last night. i paired it with a saute of mixed squash and a brown rice medley from tj's.

enjoy!

Ingredients

• 6 firm, juicy farm fresh tomatoes
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1/2 an onion, chopped. i used spring onions. the green tops and the bulb since i have so many on hand.
• 1 bell pepper (i did use one pepper, however i think it was a bell pepper. it had more heat than a regular one and was slender and a reddish orange color. the flavor was a cross between a bell pepper
• 1 lb fresh ground turkey
• 1 can organic kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• generous seasonings of: ground cumin, chili powder, oregano, salt and pepper.
• grated cheddar

Details

Adapted from littlefoodies.blogspot.com

Preparation

Step 1

preheat oven to 450F.

cut off tops of tomatoes. remove pulp and save in a bowl. i freeze mine for today's pasta sauce. sprinkle with salt and pepper and let sit upside down to drain.

in a bowl mix garlic thru seasonings. scoop out enough to fill tomato. i toss the top and fill mine high as the sky. its like a self contained mini meatloaf!

place tomatoes in a baking dish and sprinkle tops with cheddar. bake about 40-45 min.

remove and enjoy!