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cuppacocoa
December 3, 2014

A handy trick for tomato paste

Is there arsenic in your tomatoes? New tests reveal that tomatoes contain high levels of…

…JUST KIDDING. I hardly know anything about that stuff. But here’s what I DO KNOW: I’m tired of using just one tablespoon of tomato paste and eventually throwing the rest away. Seriously, can you think of a time when a recipe called for more than one tablespoon of tomato paste? I cannot.

It happened again today, as I was brewing up a batch of Beef Bourguignon (aka fancified French beef stew). I looked at that 1 tablespoon tomato paste on the recipe and had that inner dialogue again: Tomato paste. Doh. I don’t have any. I guess I could buy some. But do I really need it? For that ONE tablespoon? I won’t even use the rest. I guess I could cover it with plastic wrap and leave it in the fridge til the next time I need it. But that probably wouldn’t be for a long time, and then I’d end up throwing it out anyway. No. I don’t need it. But… I’m spending all this time doing everything else by the recipe, what if… bah it’s just one tablespoon. Who needs that…

Well, you get the idea. I mean, I was doing other things while I pondered this, but the tomato paste conundrum simmered away in the back of my mind, one of the 2,857 tabs I’d have to come back to.

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