Tomatoes, zucchini, summer squash, peppers

So many wonderful tomatoes, summer squashes, and peppers that you just can't keep up?  And maybe you don't have much time to cook them, either.  Here are some things you can do:

First, get out your crock pot, if you have one--mine is gold-colored and harkens from the seventies, but it's still perfect for these times.  Select the tomatoes least likely to make it to the end of the day, cut out the stem area, and fill the crock pot with them.  Set it to low and let it go overnight.  In the morning, the skins easily slip off and you can pop them into the freezer just as they are if you don't have time to do anything else with them.  In the winter use them to make sauces and soups and enjoy the warmth the stove provides as they cook. 

If you have too many cherry tomatoes and summer squash, here's an idea that is way more than the sum of its parts.  Fill a large sauté pan with whole cherry tomatoes and summer squash (yellow or green), cut up into rough chunks (about 40% tomatoes, 60% squash).  Simmer until everything is very, very soft, and then put it all through a food mill (or food processor).  It makes a wonderful soup, which can be frozen. 

And as for extra peppers, while I was cooking the tomatoes and squash as above, I put three peppers at a time directly on top of my gas burner and blackened them.  After putting them in a covered bowl for a short time, the skins were easy to peeled off, and I froze the resulting roasted peppers for later.