295:365

It's been raining off and on here today... and it's colder than I thought it would be for this time of year... but it was still an awesome day.
I got some items listed on Etsy... updated my blog links... took a few photos walking around the neighborhood... did some laundry... did some cooking... and spent some time with family.
Awesome.

And I made some fresh roasted roma tomatoes... and then some fried green tomatoes to go with a couple ham steaks for dinner.

Ingredients: Garden fresh green tomatoes, 2 eggs & milk whisked into one bowl, about 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of cornmeal in a second bowl, butter, salt, pepper.

1. Slice tomatoes 1/2 inch thick. Discard the ends.
2. Whisk eggs and milk together in a medium-size bowl. Mix cornmeal, flour, salt and pepper in another bowl. Dip the tomatoes into milk and egg mixture. Dredge in breadcrumbs and flour mixture to completely coat.
3. In a large skillet, melt a little butter. Place tomatoes into the frying pan in batches, depending on the size of your skillet. Do not crowd the tomatoes, they should not touch each other. Season them with salt and pepper as you desire. When the tomatoes are browned, flip and fry them on the other side. I cook them on low heat on both sides first to get the tomatoes all warm and juicy, then increase the heat to brown them on the sides. Serve hot and enjoy the sunset :)


*photos by Elaine A. Russell

271:365

It's raining. I am still sick. I have discovered some paperwork that I thought was taken care of... is indeed not. And I still have some to do (*or do again as it were). It is frustrating.
And so... even though it was chilly and rainy... my niece and her 3 kids and I went and worked in a local garden... cleaning and picking and salvaging veggies. And tonight.... I am making home-made spaghetti sauce.

Two of the 10 books I have read over the course of this month had to do with food. One was "Eat, Pray, Love"... which was good... but somehow I felt a little let down after hearing all the hype around the book and the movie. The 2nd book, was by Molly Wizenberg and is called "A Homemade Life." This was great. Ms. Wizenberg has a really interesting writing style, and I love that she included family recipes at the end of each chapter. So... in homage to that...

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Spaghetti Sauce a la Potter County

-as many cherry tomatoes as I could pick, plus some farmer's market heirloom tomatoes that were left over in the fridge.

All were washed, and de-stemmed.

(Normally, I would have pureed them in the blender at this point...

but my niece prefers them not pureed)

- 2 medium sized cans of organic tomato paste
- 2 small organic onions, chopped fine
- 3 stalks of celery, chopped fine
- about 6 little peppers. Some were ordinary green bell peppers, some looked like chile verde, a couple were banana peppers. All from the garden... washed, no seeds, chopped fine.
- 1 small can of diced mushrooms (it was in the cupboard... so why not)
- garlic. Lots. I used the whole big hunk of garlic... which was about 6 cloves. I like garlic.
- Oregano. Thyme. Basil. About 2-3 tbs each.

-2 tbsp sugar
-salt and pepper to taste.


It's been cooking on low heat for about 3hrs now... in a huge chili pot... and it has been stirred frequently so as not to burn on the bottom. About 1/3 of it has reduced... and I have most all of the tomatoes smashed into bits so that everything is chunky, but thick ... and I am letting it cool down.
Then it will go into containers and be stored in the freezer for an easy pasta topping in the future.

**UPDATE** --this batch yielded 15 pints