Tomato Salad

There is a local restaurant here called Hot and Hot Fish Club where every thing is delicious, but every summer when tomatoes are in their prime, the best dish hands down is the tomato salad. I bought some fantastic vine ripe tomatoes at the farmer's market Tuesday and decided to make a somewhat similar salad for our dinner tonight. I had nearly everything on hand and what I didn't have I could punt and either do without or find a reasonable substitution.

                              Variation on a Theme of Hot and Hot Tomato Salad

Salad
2 very ripe tomatoes
10 cherry tomatoes (halved)
2/3 cup cooked lady peas (chick peas, crowder peas or black eyed peas will work)
6 pickled okra pods
5 slices bacon cooked crisp (I used Neuske's applewood smoked bacon)

Dressing
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 clove finely minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon Italian herb blend
salt and pepper to taste (About 1/8 teaspoon each but I don't like salt)

Mix al ingredients together with a wire whisk.  Stir well before using.

Faux Basil Aioli
1/2 teaspoon basil
2 tablespoons mayonnaise

Mix together and set it aside

Prepare the dressing and set it aside.
Peel the tomatoes and slice into about 1/2 inch slices, put the slices in a shallow bow,l and pour about 1/3 of the dressing over them.  Let it sit for about 15 minutes
Put 1/3 cup of the peas on the bottom of a plate. Put about a tablespoon of the dressing on the peas. Place the tomatoes on top of the peas. crumble 3 slices of the bacon and sprinkle half of  it around the peas. Put 5 cherry tomatoes on each plate and add the 3 pods of pickled okra. Place one whole slice of bacon on the top tomato slice . Drizzle the remaining dressing over everything and add a dollop of the basil mayonnaise. Have a nice glass of a cabernet, a couple of slices of toasted French bread and enjoy a fantastic summer meal. The only thing that would have made the dinner better would have been if we ate it on the porch and could hear the crickets and katydids while we ate. Oh well, next time.

The salad at the restaurant has 6 varieties of tomatoes, corn, and fried okra instead of the pickled. I had 2 varieties of tomatoes, no corn and no fresh okra, but it was still incredibly tasty.

Living Life on the Edge

I found a jar of jelly in my pantry, that was out of date and I honestly could not remember when I got it, but I didn't want to  just toss it without seeing if it was still good.  It passed the smell test, it looked perfectly fine, so I tasted a small bit.  Since it tasted perfectly fine I decided I would do something death defying and use it in a recipe I made for my older sons when they were small. (Sorry Son3, but by the time you came along life had changed a lot and you didn't get hot muffins for breakfast. You can use that in Chapter 3 when you write your memoir about your tragic childhood)

Jelly Filled Muffins

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1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup jelly or jam (Your choice of flavor) I used spiced orange jelly

Preheat oven to 400 Grease or put paper muffin cups in a 12 muffin standard size muffin tin.
Combine all the dry ingredients in a medium bowl and stir well to mix
Combine all the wet ingredients in a separate bowl and mix well.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and blend just to moisten everything. The batter will not be smooth.  Remove 1/3 of the batter from the bowl and put aside. Fill the muffin cups evenly with the remaining batter. Put approximately 1 teaspoon of the jelly/jam in the center of each muffin cup. Top the jelly dollop in each muffin with the remaining batter. Pop in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. When they are hot if you like you can brush the tops of the muffins with melted butter and sprinkle sugar over the top. I prefer them plain because I have some tactile issues with food and sugared tops often remind me of eating sand.

These are best eaten warm straight out of the oven, but they are not shabby eaten cold. If you like milk I imagine it would be pretty good with them. I had a steaming hot mug of black coffee with mine this morning and it was pretty dang good.

And if you do not see me post for several weeks you will know that I died from eating tainted jelly, but at least know I died happy!

Taco Deconstruction

Tonight (last night, or a few nights ago depending on when I actually hit "publish") I was looking through the freezer for something quick and easy for dinner, emphasis on the quick part. I found about a half pound of browned ground beef and a bag of cooked black beans. (I cook the entire 2 pound bag of black beans at one time, then freeze it in 1 cup portions.) Then I moved to the pantry to see what else I could find. I had an onion, a can of niblet corn, some diced chili peppers, and a can of petite diced tomatoes. Put em together and what have you got___ (Imagine a Fairy Godmother here making dinner rather than a pumpkin coach)

Tada! Deconstructed Tacos

1/2 pound browned ground beef
1 onion chopped
1 cup black beans
1 can petite diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can niblet corn drained
1 small can chopped chili's drained
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon oregano
grated cheese
shredded lettuce
chopped tomatoes
avocado slices (I forgot I had an avocado in the fridge until after I took the picture and had begun eating)
tortilla chips, tortillas or even corn chips
salsa
sour cream

In a large pan add the browned ground beef and the chopped onion.  Cook a couple of minutes until
the onion begins to wilt. Toss in the tomatoes, the corn,  and the chili's, mix everything together. Add all the seasonings and stir well to blend. Stir in the black beans and heat until everything is hot and the mixture is almost dry. Stir often to keep it from burning.  Put the tortilla chips in the bottom of a large bowl.  Scoop the mixture on top of the chips and sprinkle grated cheese over it. Top the cheese with the shredded lettuce and tomatoes.  Add some avocado slices (It really makes it taste better) salsa and a dollop of sour cream. (I forgot the sour cream before I took the picture also)

Eat and enjoy! This would pair very well with Dos Equis Amber but I didn't have any. It was good with water, but I think the Dos Equis would have been a little better.

Son3 ate with us tonight and this was enough for 3 adults with a lunch serving leftover. Guess I know what I will be having tomorrow!

Positively Monday

Each day I try and record the best thing that happened that day, then list them all on Monday. It keeps me focused on what is good and opens me to whatever positives the next week might bring.  Like everyone, there are days when it is easier to find the good, but the exercise of compiling them daily reinforces the belief that every single day has something worthwhile and happy.

Monday: Ordered a new top with a 25 percent off coupon that was expiring Monday, because the store did not have it in my size. I opted to pick it up at the store to save shipping, and then received a coupon via email for 10 dollars off my next purchase.  Score!

Tuesday: My Beloved Sister had a birthday, so Mom and I met her for lunch.  We do this on special occasions and Mom and I go early, order and have everything ready so MBS can enjoy her meal without having to hurry. She only get an hour for lunch. If any of you have the opportunity to eat at Chicken Salad Chick give the Fancy Nancy a try.  It is really tasty.
(Added positive: I found the most horrible garish red sequined pillow for 2 bucks at Ollie'
s, so naturally I bought it, wrapped it and gave it to MBS as one of her birthday gifts.  Each birthday we give each other something really tacky or regift a previous years tacky gift. I expect this pillow to come back to me in September)

Wednesday: Pip (the granddaughter) has been telling me to watch Moana (her new favorite movie). It is on Netflix now, so I watched it and will begin making her a Moana costume next week so I can take it with me when we visit in July..

Thursday: I had the privilege of watching The Little Mermaid performed by participants of The Independence Place of Alabama. It was wonderful to see this group do such a remarkable job, and the ad-libs (lots of them, I mean, who needs lines?) were pretty incredible too.

Friday: Hmmmm, I didn't get struck by lightning (nuff said about a very difficult day!) Son2 and GF2 took dinner to Mom and ate with her. (I just could not go to her house one more time)  Oh and Girlfriend2 and I watched a psychological thriller which was good but very intense, so we watched a sitcom immediately  afterward.

Saturday: TheHub and I decided to have a nighttime shopping trip. I found lovely cheap outdoor pillows and a chair pad for the rocker on the screened deck and also bought new plants for the pots around the pool. I still need a few more. This crazy weather had done some serious damage to a lot of the plants.
I probably should also mention peanut butter pie!

Sunday: The insane weather has wrecked havoc with the pool water.  Today has been a working, trying to get the water balanced type of day. Not there yet but it's close, plus all the plants have been planted, some others that have had damage from too many high winds and water have been removed so at least it looks happier outside.

Sucky Weather!

There is nothing like getting all gussied up to go to an afternoon play,  just getting on the interstate to get to said play, and hearing sirens the entire way because the entire county is under a tornado warning. It does make you turn the radio on to see exactly where they are supposed to hit. Since I was headed east and the storms were tracking north from the west, I figured I had enough of a head start to outrun them, plus they were not supposed to touch down in the area where I was headed. But it did get a little unnerving hearing them scream the whole 30 minute drive.

I made it to the play, enjoyed seeing all my Independence Place friends perform then got ready to drive home. I was barely back on the road headed for home when the blooming sirens started all over again. I turned the radio on a local talk station and  heard tornados were headed toward my neighborhood. Since there was nothing I could do about the storm and they weren't headed where I currently was, I got off the interstate at the next exit and decided to wait for it to pass before driving toward where the action was supposed to happen. 

The first thing I saw was a Sonic, so why not wait while enjoying a frozen limeade, right? I was sitting in my car, sipping my refreshment and listening to some seriously bad music Sonic piped through their speakers when a young male Sonic employer came up to my window and said "You need to go right now and take care of your tire. You probably don't have 4 pounds of air in it."

Of course! I was sitting in the rain, avoiding a possible tornado near my house and now I have a flat tire.  I pulled out of Sonic and drove about 2 blocks to a tire store. They did not have the size my car needed and called about 3 other places close to them to see if anyone else had one in stock,  Since they couldn't find one, (but did locate the nail I had picked up in the tire) they put a temporary patch on it, filled it with air and told me to go straight to my tire guy. He had everything I needed but could not get to it until the next day.  Bummer! So now I was driving about 25 miles in high winds, torrential rain, with a bandaid on a leaky tire with a nail in it.

Since no one knows what actually happened I could create some drama and tell you about the blowout on 459 in the downpour and pull a Blanch DuBois about how I always rely on the kindness of strangers. But, truth be told, the patch held, I made it home fine, met TheHub at the tire place and left my car so she will be among the first in line for service in the morning. (Aside here: How come the tire store nearest my house has 10 of those tires in stock and no one on the other side of town has even one?) Hopefully they will get to it quickly so I will have my vehicle in working order before Mom gets out of her eye appointment. It is at 8:15 and My Beloved Sister is going to take her on her way to work. The appointment always takes an hour, and since Estes opens at 7:30 I am hoping  they will have my car ready by 8:30, so I will be at her doctor's office in plenty of time.  If not Son2 is going to pick up the slack for me.

And you might not think there was an upside to this, but sinceTheHub had to meet me at the tire store (I suppose he could have left me there overnight but that would have been a different type of drama, perhaps with murderous intent) and he was a tad earlier than he usually comes home, we decided to go to a local meat and three for a vegetable dinner. Fried green tomatoes, collards, creamed corn and cornbread__yum! It was still pretty early when we finished eating so we went exploring and wound up at a local brewhouse. If you ever find yourself at Redhills Brewery try the grapefruit brew. It was fantastic!

Wet Wednesday!

We have been having a ton of rain lately. Dreary weather does not affect me greatly, but today is officially the first day of summer and I was kind of, sort of hoping for bright sunshine.  No dice, so instead I am looking at gray skies and big fat raindrops. The upside is it's just rain and with no lightning and thunder.  I guess this means no yard work either and I do have some outdoor chores I needed to do.(Notice the muscadines overtaking the fence) I guess I will just have to stay inside and read. Now that I type that it doesn't sound like a bad option for the day does it?






On a side note, since the day is cooler and dreary I am making coconut soup for a light dinner.

Cheaters Coconut Soup (Special thanks to my friend Louay for teaching me this trick)

1 cup of cooked rice divided into 4 bowls
1 carton chicken broth
1 pinch (or 2)

of ground ginger
dehydrated mushrooms (if you don't have them use about 5 fresh mushrooms sliced)
dried lemon grass
dried lime leaves (or fresh lime juice from one lime if you don't have lime leaves)
5 green onions (White part separated from the greens, both sliced thinly)
1/2 teaspoon chili oil
1 can coconut milk
1 cup cooked chicken (cubes or shreds)
1 lime quartered for garnish

Heat the chicken broth, add the ginger then toss in the dehydrated mushrooms, lemon grass, lime leaves and the sliced white bulbs of the green onions. Cook until the mushrooms are soft and the onions are tender. Reduce to simmer then remove the lime leaves and lemon grass.  Stir in the chili oil and the coconut milk and mix well. Add the chicken and heat.  Serve in bowls on top of cooked rice. Garnish with the sliced green onion stems and a quarter of the lime. This make a great rainy night meal!

Positively Monday

As an ongoing method of keeping my attitude in check I record something positive that happened each day. Like everyone in the world some days are easier to find things to be happy about than others, but every single day has at least one good thing in it.  Sometimes you just have to dig a little deeper than others to find it. 

Monday: Got Son3 on his flight back to his home. We had a good visit with him and when it was time for him to go home it was time for him to leave. It was a perfectly timed visit with enough days to enjoy him but short enough that none of us got on anyone else's last nerve. As a special bonus, for the first time in his life he left the room pretty much as he found it, and even brought all the linens down and stuck them in the washer before leaving. And I got my car back, so I could go wherever I wanted and didn't have to share.

Tuesday: I had a gathering the fragments day at home.  I took the laundered sheets and towels from Son3's visit back upstairs put the room together, ready for the next visit. Also the Bach Chorale book I ordered arrived. Now i just need to play them daily.

Wednesday: Took Mom to the neurologist. Her Parkinson's is not progressing much at all and we are very thankful for that. Her cognitive function is down a wee bit but she is too tiny to take the medicine to help retard her memory loss. (Clinical trials have found it inhibits appetite resulting in weight loss) So now we begin the process of trying to chunk her up a little.  We are starting with a daily milkshake and trying to get her to add some additional carbs.  Mac and cheese anyone?

Thursday: TheHub is out of town and I had visions of binge watching OITNB but I already binged watched/listened to it. Instead I got to meet the bug man at the lake. I always get to do the fun stuff like that, but the lake was truly beautiful. On the way home I stopped at 2 stores having sales and bought me a few new duds.

Friday: Son2 and Girlfriend2 took Mom out for dinner. This was a fantastic gift to me!

Saturday: This sounds like a weird thing to consider as a positive, but I got the MBR shower scrubbed sparkly clean.  I had neglected it for a little bit and we have very hard water here. Hard water plus soap equals a mess.  Now there is no mess and I WILL resume my usual maintenance.

Sunday: TheHub got home from his trip in the late afternoon just in time for a hamburger cookout and a Father's Day celebration. Mom, Son2, and Girlfriend2 joined us for dinner and we also had a little FaceTime visit with Pip, Son1 and Mama K.