Fried Green Tomatoes

Ingredients:
4 large green tomatoes
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 cup flour
1 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup Panko-type bread crumbs
2 teaspoons coarse Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
vegetable oil for frying

Instructions:

• Slice tomatoes into thick slices.
• Whisk eggs and milk together.
• Scoop flour onto a plate.
• Mix cornmeal, bread crumbs, salt, and pepper and put on a plate.
• Dip tomatoes in flour to coat.
• Dip floured tomatoes into egg mix.
• Dredge in cornmeal/breadcrumb mix to fully coat.
• Pour enough vegetable oil in an iron skillet so that there is about a half-inch depth.
• Heat over medium heat to get oil hot.
• Place tomato slices in skillet without overcrowding them.
• When the batter is browned, flip the slices.
• Gently lift tomato slices from skillet when entirely golden brown and drain on a paper towel.
• Serve warm!

Salsa

This is a recipe shared with us from our daughter-in-law, Jessica.

Ingredients:
20-25 cups peeled, raw tomatoes
6 jalapenos (1/2 cup chopped)
1 1/2 large onions (2 cups diced)
10-15 stems fresh cilantro
4 limes
6-8 cloves garlic
1/2-1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon cumin

How about these beautiful tomatoes?  Fresh from Mike's garden, washed and set out to dry...

And these jalapenos!  He brought them home from the vegetable stand and I washed them out and left them to dry as well...

Instructions:
Peeling tomatoes with little to no waste:

• Dip whole tomatoes into boiling water for 15 seconds.
• Remove and plunge into ice water.
• Slide peel off tomato.
• Cut out core of tomato and dice.

Salsa Prep:

• Pulse diced tomatoes in food processor in small batches till thick and chunky.
  
• Place tomatoes in large cooking pot.

• Remove seeds and veins from half  to one/third of jalapenos and dice all of them.
• Dice onions and add to jalapenos.
• Pull leaves off cilantro and add to onion/jalapeno mix.
• Juice limes (I even added the zest from a couple of them.) and add to onion mix.
• Mince garlic and add to onion mix.
• Sprinkle in garlic salt and cumin and give mixture a stir.
• In small batches, place onion mixture into food processor and puree.

• Stir pureed mixture into tomatoes.
• Bring mixture to boil and gently boil and stir for about three to five minutes.

Canning Salsa:

• While awaiting salsa mixture to come to boil, place clean pint jars in oven set to 200 degrees.  
• Place jar lids in pot and bring water to boil to sterilize them.
• When salsa is ready, place one jar at a time on a towel and dip salsa into jars with a ladle.  

• Fill jars to within 1/2 inch at top.

• Place lid on jars and screw jar ring on jar.  Do not screw on ring too tight.
• Place jars of salsa into boiling water bath where water covers jars one-to-two inches.

• Bring to gentle boil and allow to boil for 40 minutes
• Remove water bath from heat and allow to cool for five minutes or so.

• Lift jars from water bath and allow to ping and seal.

Yield: 9 pints and a 1/2-3/4 cup sampler

*Note: My first batch was a wee bit runny.  So, I drained out some of the tomato juice after we diced them for the next batch and it was much better.

Old-Fashioned Hungarian Goulash

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 small onion, diced (2/3 cup)
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup tomato sauce
1 can Italian tomatoes
2 teaspoons Hungarian spice mix (basil, paprika, oregano, cumin, tarragon, parsley)
1 teaspoon chopped Bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups elbow macaroni, uncooked
1/2 cup Mozzarella cheese, grated
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated

Instructions:

• In a four-quart Dutch oven, brown ground beef, adding onions and garlic about half-way through.

• Add chicken broth and tomato sauce, 

• Stir in tomatoes and spices.

• Cover and simmer for 15 minutes

• Add macaroni, cover again, and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

• Stir in cheddar cheese.

• Add Mozzarella just before serving.

Tennessee Caviar

This recipe is one adapted from a dish that is our daughter-in-law, Jessica's specialty.  It is great served as a salad but we really like it as a dip with corn tortilla chips best.

Ingredients:

1 can kernel corn
1 can Rotel tomatoes and chili peppers
1 can black beans
1 can black-eyed peas
1 small onion, diced (red onion adds color)
1 small bell pepper, diced
1/4 cup chopped, fresh cilantro (or about half that amount of dried cilantro)
1 garlic clove, minced (or about a half-Tablespoon of dried minced garlic)
2 Tablespoons lime juice
1/2 bottle of Italian salad dressing
1 teaspoon seasoning salt
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• Drain liquid out of corn, peas, and beans.
• In a large bowl, dump corn, tomatoes, beans, peas, onion, and pepper.

Don't all those colors and textures already look yummy?

• Add cilantro, and garlic and gently stir to blend well.
• Pour in lime juice, salad dressing, and sprinkle seasoning salt on top and give it all a quick stir.
• Add salt and pepper, if needed.
• Chill at least a couple of hours or over night for the best melding of flavors imaginable.
• Serve in a pretty glass bowl to show off all those bright and cheerful ingredients like any good southern woman would.

This also makes a great spread when food processed!

All-American Pasta Salad

This dish is a fresh, cool, simple, make-ahead treasure for summer pot-luck dinners like the one we are attending tonight!

Ingredients:
1 pound Penne pasta
8 ounces smoked Gouda cheese
1 jar diced pimentos
1 jar artichoke hearts
1/2 purple onion
1/2 pint grape tomatoes
1/2 green bell pepper
3 green onions
1 can sliced black olives

Dressing Ingredients:
1 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish
2 tablespoons red pepper jelly
2-3 tablespoons vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

• Boil up the pasta to the al dente stage.  Drain, rinse, and set aside to cool.

• Slice the Gouda cheese wheel in half and cut into pie shaped wedges.

• Then, dice up those wedges into small bite-sized pieces.

• Admire it just a bit because it is beautiful, fragrant, and good-a!  
• Slice half the purple onion and dice the slices up into little yummy pieces. (Save the rest for salads later in the week ahead.)

• Slice and dice half the green pepper and put the rest in the fridge for another recipe.

• Pick three beautiful green onions from Mike's garden and wash them up in the sink.  Well, you might want to pick yours from somewhere else but make sure you wash them up somewhere.  Then, snip them up into tiny little pieces. Yep, the whole thing - green and white as well.

• Drain the black olives in your favorite little colander spoon thingy.

• Drain, rinse, and chop the artichoke hearts - right in the heart of them.

• Rinse the grape tomatoes.  It's okay if you eat a couple, too.  Then, slice them in half.

• Open the jar of diced pimentos and pat yourself on the back that you thought to get the diced ones which will save you a bit of chopping.

• Plop each of the veggie pieces on top of the al dente pasta in a big old beautiful bowl.  Do it in an arranged way so that the colors look beautiful for a photo.

• Now mix up a little tangy and sweet dressing for this beautiful concoction.  Start out with a cup of mayonnaise.

• Add some home-made sweet pickle relish - about two tablespoons.  (If you don't have home-made relish, it will be okay to use some of the bought kind.)

• Plop in a couple of tablespoons of red pepper jelly to add some tang to it.

• Pour in a little bit of vinegar - two to three tablespoons.  I used some out of my home-made bread-and-butter pickles so it would have a bit more bite to it.  Then, stir all this together and admire the beautiful little flecks of wonderfulness inside.

• Sprinkle in some salt and pepper to taste and plop this right smack dab in the center of the bowl of veggies and pasta.

• Toss everything together making sure to coat all of it with a bit of the yummy dressing.

• Cover with some clear plastic wrap so you can admire the colorful beauty of it as you set it in the fridge for all the flavors to marry together for a couple of hours or so.  Give it a quick, refreshing toss just before you serve it!

(It is quite alright if you dish yourself up a spoonful to eat with some left-over chicken livers as a late lunch so long as nobody - well, at least Mike - knows.  After all, somebody has to taste it to make sure it is going to be alright for the pot-luck!)

Cornbread Salad

This is a dish my Mama makes from time to time and I love it.  Like so many other things Mama makes, I cannot duplicate it and make it taste as good as hers.  So, if you make it, after you taste it, just add a notch or two to the goodness of it and you will have the taste of my Mama's!

Ingredients:
Cornbread
Beans, a can, drained (Mama uses pintos or kidneys)
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 package Ranch Dressing Mix
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayo
2-3 tomatoes, diced
1 can whole-kernel corn
2 cups grated cheese
1 pound bacon, fried till crisp

Preparation Instructions:

• Plop a half-cup of sour cream into a mixing bowl with your pretty red spatula.

• Add a half-cup of mayo.

• Dump a package of Ranch Dressing Mix on top.

• Stir till well blended and set aside for the flavors to mingle.

• Crumble the cornbread into a dish.  I had six corn muffins left from last night's take-out dinner from Nana's Diner.

• Rinse and drain the beans.  I had some left-over October beans from dinner a couple of nights ago.

• Layer the beans on top of the crumbled cornbread.

• Dice up a half-cup of red bell pepper and put it into your antique measuring cup.

• Realize you don't have a green bell pepper and dice up a half-cup of yellow bell pepper and put it into your antique measuring cup.

• Admire the beauty of the colors of your diced bell pepper in your antique measuring cup.

• Go out to Mike's garden and get some green onions and wash them up good.  (Well, you might not want to go to Mike's garden to get your onions.  You might want to get yours somewhere else because he might get a little mad if loads of people came over and started pulling up all his onions.)

• Snip them into little pieces and sprinkle them over the pepper layer.

• Realize you don't have any tomatoes left.  Decide that Mike doesn't usually like tomatoes on his salad and skip dicing those up and spreading over top of the onion.

• Realize you don't have any corn.  Decide that you don't really need that either and skip draining it and spreading over top of the onion.

•  Get some of Mike's yummy bacon.  (You can get some of that from Mike because he would love to sell you some!)  Fry it up after you finish frying what you want to eat for breakfast.  

• Crumble it up and put it on top of the vegetable layers.  Then, remember that it is supposed to go on top and pick about half of it off and put it back on the plate.  (You can skip this step if you are smarter than me and have fewer interruptions.)

• Spread the Ranch Dressing mixture over top of the veggie layer.

• Spread the grated cheese over the top of the dressing mix layer.

• Sprinkle (what is left of) the bacon over the top of the cheese layer.

• Cover and chill for at least three hours.  

• Serve it up and eat it up with a big old smile on your face!

• (Thank Mama for the recipe the next time you talk to her.)