We had a couple unripened/still green tomatoes fall off their vine in our garden out back – the tragedy!  So what do you do with green tomatoes?

Fry them up of course!  We thought this recipe was great, the cornmeal added a nice crunch.

Fried Green Tomatoes
from http://www.simplyrecipes.com

3 medium, firm green tomatoes
Salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp Cajun seasoning (optional)
1/2 cup milk or buttermilk
1 egg
1/3 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup fine dry bread crumbs
1/4 cup peanut oil or other vegetable oil

Cut unpeeled tomatoes into 1/2 inch slices. Sprinkle slices with salt. Let tomato slices stand for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, place in separate shallow bowls: the flour and Cajun seasoning (if using), buttermilk and egg, and bread crumbs and cornmeal.

Heat the peanut oil in a skillet on medium heat. Beat the egg and the buttermilk together. Dip tomato slices in the flour-seasoning mix, then buttermilk-egg mixture, then the cornmeal-bread crumb mix. In the skillet, fry half of the coated tomato slices at a time, for 3-5 minutes on each side or until brown. Set the cooked tomatoes on paper towels to drain. Serve warm with a remoulade.

Enjoy!

Don’t  you just love beets?  We are big fans in our house.  We got beets in our weekly CSA a couple weeks ago and after some research, we realized that steaming beets is the way to go (we always assumed you boiled them!).  So, I thought I would share the process with you because if you ever thought it was daunting to prepare beets from scratch – it is not!  According to www.healthy-beets.com:


/* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:”Table Normal”; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:””; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;}

Plunge the beets in cold water, and peel when they are cool enough to handle, but still warm. Then, the skins will slip easily.

And of course, freshly steamed beets mixed with lettuce and delicious goat cheese is salad perfection…

Cole slaw is one of those yummy, summertime side dishes you get when you’re at a restaurant with fish and chips, a lobster roll, or maybe even some fried clams.  But, you never make it at home, right?  Well now that can change because I found the easiest recipe with ingredients you probably already have, you’ll just have to go out for the cabbage.  I thought I would share this now (in place of my usual “Couple Things” Friday post)  – just in time to make for your Labor Day cookout.

Basic Cole Slaw
from Southern Food (but heavily edited)

/* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:”Table Normal”; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:””; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;}

Don’t you just love a cold glass of Sangria in the summertime?  I made some the other night to bring to a friends house and realized I had never shared my “recipe” before.  So here you go – just in time to make for Labor Day Weekend!

1 bottle of Spanish red wine (literally go to the “Spanish Wine” aisle at your liquor store and find a bottle of red for like $8 or $10)
1 lemon cut into 1″ rounds
1 orange cut into 1″ rounds
1/2 a green apple cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Shot brandy
2 C club soda

Pour wine in a pitcher and squeeze the juice from the lemon and orange into the wine. Toss in the fruit wedges and the apple pieces, then add sugar and brandy. Chill overnight (the longer you chill, the yummier). Add club soda just before serving.

Enjoy!