Hot one day cold the next, the first time we had two fairly cool days together I got a bad case of Fall-Foods Blues! You know, those rich, thick soups and stews that chase away the chill and leave a good feeling behind.
But, alas my cupboard was near bear and I was so far behind in work that I could go to the store. So….time to become a bit creative. read more…
IT’S ALMOST TIME!!!
EASTMONT TOMATO FESTIVAL!!!
And the Legacy of Karen Cronin carries on!!!
The 4th Annual Eastmont Tomato Festival will be held on August 13, 2011 in Shawsville, VA. Hours are from 10 AM to 3 PM at the Meadowbrook Center in Shawsville View Map (yeah, I had to add the map:). One of the great things about this festival is the central location. It is only a hop-skip-and-a-jump from a lot of areas around here.
Some of the other great things are FOOD, FUN, GAMES … it is all together some of the best family entertainment you can find in the area! Here’s a partial list of the offerings:
- FRIED GREEN TOMATOES (my personal favorite)
- TOMATO SANDWICHES made with Duke’s Mayo! (another personal favorite)
- TOMATO EATING CONTEST (I’m happy to be a spectator on this one)
- CONTESTS:
- Biggest Tomatoes
- Ugliest Tomatoes
- Best Art Made BY Tomatoes
- Best Art Made WITH Tomatoes
- TomatOlympics – activities for children between the ages of 6 & 13 years where a medal in such events as the Tomato Sack Race and Tomato Shot Put can be won.
- and More
- TOMATO PAGEANT with contestants competing for such royalty status as:
- Cherry Tomato Baby
- Tomato Prince/Princess
- Heirloom Tomato Queen
Celebrity Judges
- Larry Bly, host of “Cookin’ Cheap”
- Sharyn McCrumb, New York Times Best Selling Author and resident of the East Mont area, has the honor of judging the Pageant and crowing this year’s winners
- Tom Angleberger, author of The Strange Case of Origami Yoda will be judging the art contests
And, perhaps most importantly, for me is that the 2011 EastMont Tomato festival will honor the memory of 2009 Heirloom Tomato Queen and community angel Karen Cronin. All proceeds from the EastMont Tomato Festival will be given to endow the Karen Cronin Legacy Fund, administered by the Mountain Valley Charitable Foundation.
The Festival is supported by volunteers and sponsors. If you’d like to volunteer, contact Michael Hemphill at 540-556-2879 or michael@eastmontva.com.
If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, email tec@terryellencarter.com.
Local vendors wishing to participate in the Festival are welcome to contact Sandy Birkenmaier at 540-381-1856 or brushcreekaqua@verizon.net.
Lots more information is available at www.EastmontTomatoFestival.com.
Tomatoes may well be one of the most versatile foods around. They can be easily grown in home gardens or containers. My Aunt Ruby always planted one cherry tomato in a hanging basket on the porch that was “Carol Ann’s” tomato plant. It only just now dawned on me that she put it out of my reach and kept me out of her main planting of tomatoes which were dispersed throughout her flower garden. Man, that was slick, and it worked so well. I done been had again!
Anyway, I did spend many an hour in the kitchen with her helping to can the summer garden foods so we could have good food for the winter. Tomatoes were always my favorites to help her with because they were a part of so many of the foods that I loved. They went into stewed tomatoes, soups, chili, spaghetti, about a gazillion casserole dishes. We used them with fish, seafood, chicken, beef, pork, eggs, cheese, or by themselves.
I guess you could say I just pure-n-t love tomatoes. I knew that fresh sliced tomatoes wouldn’t be there all year so it was crucial to make sure that they were available in other forms in order to survive the off-season.
This very basic recipe can be expanded in more directions than “Carter’s got little pills”. Whether you use it as is, or store in the freezer for future use, you can have a lot of fun creating your own variations. When I helped Aunt Ruby we canned bushels at a time so sticking to the basic recipe was the way to go. We did all of the variations at the time we took the frozen version out for use. Now days, all I have is a few plants in containers and I let the tomatoes build up a few days to have enough to get a batch to the freezer. It’s not usually more than a quart or two at a time, but I do more of the variations at the beginning and freeze them that way. Doing it that way helps me to clear leftovers out of the refrigerator that could end up being thrown away otherwise. Ah, the benefits of learning to cook from survivors of the Great Depression:) Waste not want not!
Another tip here: You can thaw the frozen mixture and run it through a blender to create a tomato sauce if you don’t want the chunks of tomato in whatever you’re cooking at the time. If you need it to be a bit thicken, cornstarch is the key.
| RECIPE NAME: Stewed Tomatoes | |
| INGREDIENTS: | |
| 2 lbs tomatoes
1 tsp salt 1/8 tsp pepper |
2 tsp sugar
1 Tbls butter 1 Tbls minced onion (optional) |
| DIRECTIONS:
Wash tomatoes, peel and cut into pieces. (Personally, I do not peel my tomatoes. I think the peeling adds too much flavor. If you choose to peel them then you can make tomato peeling easier by getting a pot of water boiling. Use a slotted spoon to lower the tomatoes a few at a time into the boiling water. After a few minutes you’ll see the skins begin to split. Remove the tomatoes from the boiling water and place in a container of cold water to quickly cool them off. The skins will slip right off and all you’ll need to remove is the core or any blemishes.) Cut the peeled tomatoes into pieces. Place tomatoes and onion into a saucepan with a tight lid so you don’t loose all that great flavor through the steam and cook over low heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with the salt, pepper, sugar and butter. Serve as is or sprinkle with some croutons on top |
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| NOTES:
This is a very, very basic recipe. There are a lot of variations that you can do with this, and I encourage you to play with it to suit your own tastes. All of the variations can be frozen for future use. CAUTION: If you are adding anything to the tomatoes you will want to check and stir them more often to be sure that there is no sticking or burning! I like my ‘stewed tomatoes’ to have onion (a lot more than the recipe calls for and I chopped it rather than mince it) and bell pepper in them so I usually chop those and add them to the mix. If I have fresh parsley, it goes in as well and maybe some garlic and celery. In fact, if you have the time to add all of those, you can have a nice mix to pull from the freezer and when you need a quick meal, thaw the mixture, heat it in a pot, add some chicken, shrimp, sausage, fish, or most anything else to it, serve on hot rice and tell people you slaved all day to make this special “Creole” dish:) Or, if you add some cumin and cilantro, you’ve got the tomato base part of a pot of chili ready to go! It also provides a good way to put spare bits of summer vegetables away to become winter’s vegetable soups. Got a spare zucchini or yellow squash? Chop it up and add it. How about that one left over ear of corn. Yep! It goes right in there as can any other left over vegetables. When done, simply cool, put in freezer bags and pull out when you’re ready to make a great pot of soup for a cold winter day! You can add most anything to the mix and still have a good end product. Herbs and spices to consider adding: basil, thyme, oregano, cayenne pepper, cumin, curry powder, or most anything else you can think of to add. I like using recipes that are versatile and help me save money in the kitchen by using up all the parts and pieces laying around, so this recipe is one of my favorites. I almost never follow the exact recipe, as I change it as opportunity or mood presents. This is definitely a recipe to have fun with. |
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Continuing the Tomato Festival Theme: Got enough tomatoes on the vine to feel like using some green ones in a bit of a different way?
| RECIPE NAME: Green Tomato Marmalade | |
| INGREDIENTS: | |
| 4 lbs green tomatoes that have been cut into chunks or slices2 lbs sugar | 1/2 tsp salt5 lemons |
| DIRECTIONS:Start with the lemons. You need to peel the lemons. Take the peels and thinly slice them. Put into a pot and add 1 cup water. Boil the peels for 5 minutes. Drain and repeat process to remove the bitterness from the lemon peels. Put into a large pot (big enough to hold all ingredients). Slice the peeled lemons into thin slices and remove seeds.Wash tomatoes, trim them and cut into small pieces or slices (enough to make 4 pounds of the pieces). How many pounds of tomatoes can vary depending upon the variety of tomato used and the amount of waste from each tomato. Green Romas are excellent and have very little waste. Add tomatoes to the pot. Now add the sugar and salt and heat slowly (low heat) and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Continue stirring and boil for 1 hour (the mixture will thicken and the fruit become clear.Put immediately into hot sterilized jars, seal and process in boiling water bath for 15 minutes. | |
| NOTES:I grew up eating pickled green tomatoes of many varieties. My favorites were always the sour or dill ones, which is my preference for most any pickles. However, when it comes to a sweet use for green tomatoes, this is hard to beat. Just pile this on a fresh hot biscuit with some butter and you’re ready to start the day! I have to admit that I also use it as a condiment along with fresh or dried beans/peas just as I do a relish. I’ve even been know to use this along with or in place of cranberry sauce for holiday meals. | |
Since it is almost time for the Eastmont Tomato Festival (August 13th in Shawsville), what would be more appropriate than some recipes for tomatoes. That’s what I’ll be posting for the next few days. The first is a baked tomato & egg dish that is attractive and delicious! read more…
This makes a great salad or dip. Eggplant is a good source of protein for those trying to limit red meats. While it will never replace the real caviar, for those who like fish eggs, it is an interesting substitute and a nice way to use fresh eggplants. Recipe can easily be doubled. If you’re of a mind, you might want to try lemon or lime juice instead of the vinegar. When I have used vinegar, I’ve often drizzled a bit of fresh lemon or lime juice across the top of either dip or salad. With salad, a slice of lemon or lime on the side of the dish, allows people to choose their own level of tartness.
I’ve always liked shrimp with eggplant so, it is not usual for me to make a salad plate with a shrimp cocktail and the eggplant caviar side-by-side. read more…
Short for Tomato Do Be Good, the name is accurate. This can also be used as a base recipe for stewed tomatoes, just leave out the bread and add some thinly sliced celery and bell pepper to the onions. That stewed tomato recipe can again be modified by adding some chopped cooked chicken or raw peeled shrimp for a quick Chicken or Shrimp Creole dish to serve over rice. Since the chicken is already cooked just add at end of cooking process. Since Shrimp are so easily overcooked, add them at the end of the cooking process as well and cook only until the shrimp turn a nice pink in color. Serve over rice with some garlic bread and a big salad, some sweet tea and oh….man…that’s good stuff! Oops, I almost forgot, the centerpiece of Tomato “Do Be”: read more…
I seldom eat fried green tomatoes out because those delicious slices of tart tomato are smothered in some thick coating. Here is the fried green tomatoes of my childhood and how I still fix them today (well maybe tomorrow at the rate the tomatoes are growing). One thing a lot of people miss is that you can use tomatoes that are just starting to turn instead of pure green ones. You’ll find an interesting sweet-sour tastes to those ‘turners’. read more…
If you can find okra, there are a lot of different ways to cook it. My personal favorites are okra and tomatoes cooked up with fresh okra, fresh chopped tomatoes, chopped onion, and chopped celery. But that’s a whole other recipe I ain’t quite sure I want to share. Most all of the recipes I post here are those that I worked in the kitchen side-by-side with my Grandma Welch or Aunt Ruby to make. They are far more saturated with wonderful memories than they are with nutrients, low fat, etc. Hence, two variations on one of my personal favorites, fried okra. read more…
When you can get fresh corn and want to display it in an unusual manner, this baked corn recipe is just the trick. If I can get enough fresh corn, I like to cut it off the cob and make my own cream style corn. I make up a big batch and freeze some in 2 cup (1 pint) containers for future use. 
If you have fresh corn, simply make your own cream corn by cleaning the ears well and boiling for about 4 minutes. Drain and let cool, then slice off the top half of the kernels. Use the flat side of the knife to scrape the rest of the corn from the cob. This will remove the meat and juice of the corn while leaving a lot of the “skin” behind. That is what makes the “cream” part of the corn. Pack in freezer bags or containers and store in the freezer. When you get ready to use it, that is time to become creative. Once thawed, this can be added to cornbread, soups, casseroles, or to make a “down home” cream style corn, fry up about 3-4 pieces of bacon in a cast iron skillet until crisp. Remove the bacon, let cool and crumble. With the skillet on low heat, add the cream corn, about a teaspoon or so of sugar, some salt and pepper (adjust the sugar, salt, and pepper to taste). Let simmer, stirring often, until the mixture thickens.
Now, what about that Baked corn? Start by thawing out a couple of those containers of corn or take 4 cups of corn cut from the cob like above: read more…
