Tomatoes – I’m up to my ears in tomatoes, literally. They are covering every surface of my kitchen. I’ve given them away to friends and family. It is truly a tomato overload.

To give you a little background, for the past few years I’ve have a little garden. Nothing fancy, a couple of tomato plants, some peppers etc.  It was nice to have some home grown vegetables and it was relaxing to work in over the summer.

This spring I again planted my little garden, same thing, two tomato plants, peppers and even asparagus. I really wasn’t expecting much, just some vegetables to enjoy over the summer. So imagine my surprise when the tomato plants started growing and growing and growing. Soon I had two ten foot tall tomato plants that had taken over the garden and a good part of the patio. All summer long I have had more tomatoes than I know what to do with. I’ve given them away. I’ve made salsa, brochette, pasta sauce, hush puppies and even fried green tomatoes. I’ve researched them and found that tomatoes can be frozen and this week I even tried a recipe for green tomato bread. All of this from my two little plants.

I guess my point here is often things in our life start out small and simple, a way to relax, or enjoy life, then without warning they can grow out of control. This can be overwhelming or scary or it can be an opportunity to try something new. Until this year, I never knew that tomatoes could be frozen or that green tomato bread even existed. We should look at the unexpected as an opportunity to reach beyond our comfort zone and try something new. Maybe it won’t work out or you won’t immediately see the results. Certainly some of my tomato recipes were better than others and I haven’t tried the frozen tomatoes yet. But at the end of the day if you dare to explore who knows what amazing things might result.