Summary of Summer

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Hey guys! Happy 09-09-09!  Still around. Database crashed and I wasn’t able to get to it until last night. Sorry about that!!

We had a jam packed weekend full of fun!

We took Tristan bowling and I even wore Clark for part of it. Don’t worry, I played it safe… & Tristan had a ball… LOL!

And as a last consolation for the summer and because our  membership is going to expire at the end of the month; we went to the zoo!

We BBQ’d yesterday at my in laws. I made a nice spinach salad and the neighbors actually made a raw dish! I was so impressed. It was a zucchini salad with lemon zest and sun dried tomatoes. Yum, yum!

This summer I’ve tried a few raw dishes and some new cooked ones. Our garden didn’t do as well as we’d hoped. This is the first year in five years that we’ve planted a garden and have not had much of a harvest. The insane high temps killed most of our plants or slowed their growth. We normally have tons and tons of tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant and peppers.  We hardly had any harvest of what we planted.  It was a bit discouraging but also part of gardening and the challenges you face. We’re determined to research some of the challenges through winter in hopes of a more successful garden next year. Hopefully, we  master composting by then and are able to provide the much needed nutrients we were possibly lacking and time of all things.  Thankfully, my mother in laws garden was flourishing because we’ve been eating some of her bounty.

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Organic Fried Green Tomatoes

How about ending the week with a recipe that’ll knock your frugal socks off!

Harvest your green tomatoes as well- with a variety of recipes you’ll have your guests screaming “Go Green!”

Organic Fried Green Tomatoes

Heat a skillet with 1/4 inch of olive/veggie oil

Don’t coat tomatoes in oil…just lightly fry with oil.

Cut green tomatoes into slices- 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick

Put 1 cup of  flour into a ziplog back and add 1 tsp. of seasoning salt and a 1/2 tsp of pepper

Beat 2 eggs in a bowl and use to coat tomatoes

Get an additional bowl and add 1/2 cup of flour- dip tomatoes in unseasoned flour mixture-then dip into egg mixture- and into seasoned flour bag…!

Shake seasoned flour bag, once all the tomatoes have been coated with first two ingredients.

Add to skillet with warmed oil- don’t overheat…you want tomatoes to get crispy! 3 minutes a side nor until crisp…Enjoy! 

You can also pickle green tomatoes…my favorite! I’ll share that recipe and a relish next time!

Hope you all have a great weekend. Let me know if you tried the Fried Green Tomatoes recipe…it’s surprisingly yumtastic!

Peace, Love & Green Happiness!

Crunchy Tuesday

When life brings you lemons- make lemonade, of course!!! Last week, when my grandparents (Oma & Opa) were up, they brought us lemons from their yard! Growing up we always had plenty of lemons around. We would make fresh lemonade or my sister and I would eat them plain with salt!!

I had more lemons than the ones pictured and filled up two pitcher’s worth!! I froze a few lemon rinds for a quick freshner in the garbage disposal and froze a portion for later use. I made lemonade with the leftover juice . Here’s a yummy recipe for a fruity lemonade drink! I must confess, I could’ve used the hand squisher for the lemons but I opted out for quick performance and used the electric juicer! Shame on me! Especially, since my mom insists the hand juicer works a lot faster- I’ll try it out next time! ; )

Mixed Berry Lemonade (using organic ingredients)- yields 2-3 glasses!

In a blender add:

3/4 cups of mixed berries- we used marrionberries, raspberries, and blueberries

Equal parts of lemon juice and H2O- 8 oz. total

1/4 cup of sugar- or more depending on your sweet tooth…you can always use Stevia!!

Whirl it up and take a drink. Yum!

I also made some butter (a whole pint) and a pot of beans (15 bean mix) for Tristan!! I gave some butter to my mom and saved some for us!! I also borrowed my mom’s bread machine…she’s had it for years and NEVER uses it.  I planned on baking a loaf of bread…but realized I didn’t have any yeast!! I didn’t feel like making a special trip to the store for a packet. With the price of bread, milk. and eggs going up what’s a mom to do? Cook from scratch…go back to basics…make it happen!! I’m going to use the machine first then I want to try and actually do it by hand- so I’m planning to do a little trial experiment of my own.

Amongst other things- we celebrated Cinco De Mayo and my niece’s 9th birthday! Mom made enchilada’s. rice and beans, Dad actually made Chile Rellano’s, we BBQ’d some Carne Asada and I made vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting! All served with a fresh glass of lemonade! Mmm…

I was recently sent an email with great “crunchy tips” from a friend of mine, “Mamita Sarita” -

Crunchy Tuesday

When Great-Grandma Dorothy died last year, we were given a cookbook she often referred to that was written by women in her hometown of Astoria, Illinois, called The ARGUS-Searchlight Cook Book- Favorite Recipes of Your Family, Friends and Neighbors. It has a collection of recipes from women dating back to the early 30’s. From Hobo Stew, Snickerdoodles, to Homemade Mayonnaise!

Lately, I’ve been on a Make Your Own kick-I thought I’d share an easy homemade Mayo recipe!! (whenever possible, use organic!)

Homemade Mayonnaise

1 cup of sugar

1 tbsp of mustard

1 cup of vinegar

4 whole eggs or 3 yolks and 1 whole egg

1 tsp. salt

1 heaping tbsp. flour

1 cup of water

Sift together dry ingredients. Combine the vinegar and water. Beat eggs, add dry ingredients, then add the vingar and water combination. Cook in double boiler until thick.

Here’s a quick salad dressing recipe using the Mayo-

Homestyle Thousand Island

1 cup of Mayo

2 1/2 tbsp.’s of ketchup

1 tbsp of relish or chopped pickles

1 tsp. of mustard

A little S & P

Mix and Serve

Serve on a crisp green salad or slather on a veggie burger or hotdog. It’s a perfect condiment combination!!!

Enjoy! : )