There are several ways to cook fresh, raw tomatoes down into a sauce that can be frozen. Here's how I do it: I wash, core and quarter the tomatoes (or cut smaller ones in half) and run them through my tomato press/strainer using the 'sauce' screen. That gives me what is essentially thin, watery tomato juice. Then I put it in a heavy stockpot and simmer it until the volume is reduced down by about 50%. That gives a fairly thick sauce. You can reduce the volume only by about 30-35% if you want a thinner sauce. I stir fairly often. How long it takes will vary depending on the size of the pot, how full it is and how watery your tomatoes were to begin with, but it is not unusual for me to simmer it for 6 to 8 hours with a normal big stockpot, or up to 10 hours if I am using my 21-quart canner as a stock pot for boiling down tomatoes. I am starting out with about 40-50 lbs. of tomatoes per batch though, and that plays a part in how long it takes to boil down. A smaller quantity of tomatoes will boil down a little more quickly. When it has reached the thickness I desire, I pull the pot off the burner and let it cool. Once the sauce has cooled, I ladle it into plastic freezer storage boxes, leaving 1/2" headspace. I label it "Tomato Sauce" plus the date and put it in the deep freeze. I use the Arrow brand Freezer Boxes sold on the canning aisle at Wal-Mart. Our Wal-Mart is always sold out of them at this time of year, but our Tractor Supply Store usually has them in stock all the time during canning season. If you do not have a tomato press/strainer, you can either puree your tomatoes in a food processor or you can chop the tomatoes into about 1" size pieces, cook them, and then strain out the seeds using a colander or strainer with fine mesh or small holes. Later on, you can make whatever you want...pasta sauce, soups, stews, etc. from your frozen sauce. Just thaw it and use it. If you want to can the tomato sauce in canning jars instead of putting the sauce in freezer boxes, you'll have to add an acidifying agent, usually lemon juice, for safety reasons. The recipe for canning tomato sauce can be found at the linked website. This recipe for canning tomato sauce can be used for making sauce to freeze, but you can skip adding the lemon juice since you're freezing instead of canning. If what you actually want is to go ahead and make full-fledged spaghetti sauce and then freeze it, there is a recipe for that in the Ball Blue Book that is separate from the standard canned spaghetti sauce recipe. That recipe might be at the Ball website (freshpreserving.com). Sammy, Reducing the tomato juice via simmering or boiling takes care of the issue of the sauce being too watery. It also intensifies the flavor. Mia, The most important thing about the Annie's Salsa recipe is to follow the directions exactly and make only the substitutions that are specifically stated as being allowed--such as substituting ReaLemon or ReaLime juice for some or all of the vinegar, or substituting some hotter pepper for some or all of the jalapenos, as long as the volume of peppers remains the same as what is stated in the recipe. There's a million threads about Annie's Salsa on the Harvest forum because the recipe has been around a while, and there have been some modifications done over the years, based on the advice of the ag extension service that worked with Annie to test the recipe for safety. While being creative and adding your own special touch to recipes when cooking is fun, you cannot employ that creativity in canning because any change you make that could affect density or pH of the product being canned could compromise its safety. That's why everyone on the Harvest forum lists the approved changes when the recipe is discussed--to ensure people don't make unapproved changes. Hope this helps, Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Preserving Tomatoes

Fantastic ideas! Thank you all so much. I went ahead tonight and did the spagetti squash. The label said to roast it, so that's what I did after jump-starting it in the micro. (Sliced in half, cut side down.) It was so yummy with a little olive oil on it. Still have plenty of sauce left to use on some of the other ideas above.

jasdip, you do need something between the bottom of the pot and your jars, although I've put them right in and not had them break. I think I was just lucky. When I was young and broke and first starting a household, I put a folded dish towel under the jars to keep them from clunking on the bottom fo the pot. It worked fine, although you have to be careful about putting the jars in because the towel will float up until it gets weighted down by the jars. I have an Excaliber dehydrator and love it, I think zucchini and apples are my favorite dehydrated items. Oh, and onions, no matter how many layers I use to bag them, my whole freezer still smells like onions. I also dehydrate a lot of hot peppers for Elery, he adds them to a lot of stuff although I don't use very many. I've been pretty spectacularly unsuccessful at dehydrating tomatoes and strawberries, though. The strawberries became chewy little red bits that tasted like nothing. The tomatoes never became crisp enough to powder, although I could put them in the food processor and chop them up into bits after dehydration. I didn't like them with the peels on, the peels became little chewy pieces of "stuff" so I had to peel them and that made them harder to handle. And I didn't think they kept their flavor very well, I was not impressed. I'm considering trying a tomato leather this year, tomatoes are a fruit and fruit leather is done by lots of people but so far I have not been impressed with my dehydrated tomatoes. I admit, I do tend to like different vegetables preserved in different ways. I don't like dehydrated potatoes either, they remind me of the boxed instant potatoes. I do par-fry them and put them in the freezer for french fries, though. I like green beans canned, but I like corn frozen. I like berries frozen, but I like apples dried. It's all a matter of finding out which method works best for you and your particular tastes. Annie

Starlight: Hope you got the Dog de-smelled. You can make the Spaghetti Sauce and freeze it in portions, with the Meatballs and Sausage. After you have a feel for making the Sauce, you can leave out or add any Spices you like more. In the Marinara Sauce,( not cooked long ) I use a lot of Parsley, Garlic and Onions. If I'm going to use it with Seafood. Maybe you might like a Sauce that isn't cooked much. The Recipe I gave you is close to what many Italian people Make. and I used it in my Pizzeria for take out Spaghetti and Meatballs. A lot of CF members say that using Powdered Garlic and Spices is a no no ! You lose Flavor. I have no problem with Flavor but you have to use a good brand. I'm finding more and more Cooks are using them. I've Pre Haggled my Sauce and Pizza with my Family, neighborhood and a few after hour Clubs, to get what a Majority likes, not me. - - - - - - Have fun with the fresh Tomatoes. LOU