So Many Tomatoes........and Hurricanes.

Hi there everyone.....hope you all are having a good week. Yesterday Habitat for Humanity came to put up our fence.....I sure do love it. I took a lot of "before" and "after" pictures of the fences. That will be my next post in a few days.

So yes....I have been busy this past week....cleaning things up in the back yard to get it ready for the new fence. This Saturday, the Habitat people are going to paint the floor of my front porch. So I have to clean the porch of the lawn chairs, tables and fountain. I will probably spray the porch down to get the dust off. So just a little bit more work to go.

In between the cleaning, my tomato plants have been producing an abundance of tomatoes....I have been amazed.

In this picture I am drying some tomatoes....my first batch, I seasoned the tomatoes with salt and pepper. The second batch was a sandwich seasoning.....the third batch....just salt. Oh my, the tomatoes are delish....like candy. I might dry some more tomatoes tomorrow.

In the picture below is some salsa....chopped up tomatoes, peppers, onions, 1 teaspoon cilantro, 1 teaspoon taco seasoning and mixed together. I added some cheese to the salsa which was good too. Sooooo good. I just may make some more salsa this weekend. I should can some too.

Here's a peek at the tomatoes in different stages of ripeness.

I still want to make some canned spaghetti sauce, along with canning just plain tomatoes. I am having lots of fun with my tomatoes. Tonight I had a plain tomato sandwich with mayo on toast. So good. A tomato Quiche is on the agenda to make yet....maybe tomorrow for breakfast.

I am so sorry for and have prayed for those that suffered in Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. So much devastation. I can't imagine what it was like. Tornado's are scary, but a hurricane sounds even more scarier. To lose everything, no money, water, electric, housing, food.....sad.  Leaving your home to evacuate and not know if you will have a home to come back to. I don't know, so hard. Maybe Wisconsin is not so bad when it comes to weather....snow and cold, I will take it.

Well time to close. The weather is supposed to be really nice this week....summer has come back. 85 degrees on Saturday....I will let the Habitat volunteers paint the porch....maybe I will pull a few weeds around my rose bushes.

Have a great week and talk to you soon. Keep looking up....better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

My Bumper Crop of Tomatoes

Hi there everyone......well, I've been kinda busy with my tomatoes. That's why I have been missing for awhile. These two bushes of Beef Steak Tomatoes have produced an abundance of tomatoes. Oh and so delicious....nothing like a fresh tomato from the garden.

So many things to make with my tomatoes. I want to can some tomatoes in the next few days. I've put a large bag of tomatoes in the freezer...maybe will do another bag for soups during the winter.

I am planning on dehydrating some tomatoes and maybe put some oil and seasonings on them and let they dry. I will take pictures after the drying process. Maybe I could grind them into powder and use as a seasoning. Just thinking about this process right now.

 I have made a few salads with the tomatoes. Tonight I had the salad, mixed with bacon and ranch dressing....yum that was good. I want to make a crustless tomato and spinach Quiche. I found the recipe in a magazine at the Doctor's office. So....this recipe is on the agenda to make soon.

Oh and then there are the BLT's.....so, so good! Tomato Soup was the first thing I made with my tomatoes.....oh and on the agenda is some tomato sauce too and then maybe can the sauce. The ideas are just endless, aren't they? I have been looking at "Tomato Jam" recipes, that sounds like fun too!!

These tomatoes were just so perfect....hardly any blemishes on these tomatoes. It most definitely was a good year for tomatoes and I most definitely will be planting Beef Steak Tomatoes next year also.

Another recipe I want to try and will give you the recipe here. I've have not tried it yet, but I can tell it will be really good.

Parmesan Oven Roasted Tomatoes:

3 large ripe tomatoes, halved

1 slice of bread or 3/4 cup fresh bread crumbs

1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 tablespoons of fresh herbs, (parsley, basil and oregano) or 1/2 teaspoon each dried basil & dill)

salt and pepper to taste.

Preheat oven 400 degrees. Using a blender or magic bullet, process the bread into fresh breadcrumbs. In a small bowl, combine breadcrumbs, cheese, garlic, olive oil, herbs, salt and pepper. Toss until well mixed.

Place sliced tomatoes in a shallow baking dish, season with salt and pepper, Top with breadcrumb mixture. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until crumbs are lightly browned. Be sure not to over bake so the tomatoes don't become mushy.

Another think I have been doing with my tomatoes is just slicing them and putting mozzarella on them and cooking along with my eggs in the morning.....soooooooo.good.

So there you have it, my tomato post, hope you enjoyed every bite of my tomatoes!!! Have a great evening and enjoy the last day of August tomorrow....where did this summer go??????

Tomato Cheers ~ Louise

Simple Rhubarb Crisp and a Quiche from Blue Apron

Hi there everyone. Hope you are having a good day....Friday and Sunday is coming!!!! And in between those two days is SATURDAY!!! Have to love those Saturdays. It's suppose to be in the 80's, a little bit warmer then today, but I enjoyed this day too, didn't have to put the fans on. JP finally brought up the window air conditioner....it just has to go into the window now. Maybe tomorrow.

So today I made this "Simple Rhubarb Crisp". It's kind of my recipe, mixed with another. I had a lot of frozen rhubarb in the freezer and pulled it all out....I guess I had about 9-10 cups of rhubarb. So I thought, why not make a crisp following the pie recipe I had. Here's the recipe:

Spray a 8 1/2 x 8 1/2 pan or glass dish. Mix together:
5-6 cups rhubarb, 1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar (one cup if you like real sweetness), 2 eggs, 1/2 cup flour, stir and pour into the sprayed pan or glass dish.

Mix together: 1/2 stick butter (softened), 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 to 3/4 cup flour, mix till crumbly and sprinkle over the rhubarb mix.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and bake 15 minutes. Turn oven down to 350 degrees and bake for 40 - 50 minutes, depends on your oven. Cool down a bit and slice, top with ice cream or whip cream...very yummy!!

My Blue Apron recipe. "Zucchini & Cherry Tomato Quiche with Tomato-Arugula Salad" Yep, this is a keeper too. The zucchini was diced, cherry tomatoes quartered. Make a paste out of the garlic by zesting it. Zest the lemon and quarter the lemon. Make a dressing with the lemon zest, 1/4 of the garlic paste and juice of all 4 lemon wedges. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook the zucchini and season with salt and pepper, cook down till lightly browned and slightly softened. Add half the tomatoes and the remaining garlic paste and season with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat.

Make the filling, crack 2 eggs in a medium bowl, beat till smooth, add 1/2 cup ricotta cheese and whisk till combined. Add the cooked vegetables, whisk well and pour into small pie shells and top with Fontina cheese and Parmesan cheese.

Bake at 425 degrees for 18 - 20 minutes till the crusts are browned and the filling is set and cooked through. Serve with lettuce and the rest of the cherry tomatoes, pour over the garlic-lemon mixture with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper. Yep...I would make this dish again also.

Tonight is pizza night from Schwan's and left-overs.....so JP will be eating pretty well tonight after work. I hope he appreciates me and my cooking and making sure he eats well. My only problem is I enjoy my cooking also....so hard to lose weight in this house....so maintaining is all I can muster.

Well, you all have a great evening and keep looking up, better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise.

PS Just a note....I was so sorry to hear of the attack on innocent people in Nice, France by a truck driver. It is so sad to think these terrorist think nothing of human life. Too bad, they have been deceived by the evil one and they think killing people (and themselves) will get them "73 virgins in Heaven"........I think they shall be shocked. As per Rush Limbaugh here is his link.

Their "Koran" was wrongly translated and the "73 virgins" they think they are getting is actually "73 raisins"....what a shock!!!

I pray their eyes will be opened and Jesus will give them visions of the REAL HOLY God of the Universe and many Muslims will be saved.