The Amazing Tomato

I have recently written a few articles about cooking for an online website, and found one of the topics, tomato salad, fascinating! It was interesting because, for one, I really don’t like raw tomatoes all that much and two, I learned a little about tomatoes that got my mouth watering. Here are some really neat tidbits that I learned.

• There are over 7,500 different varieties of tomatoes. The tomato is indigenous to South America. The plant is a member of the nightshade family, which is a poisonous plant. No wonder Europeans thought tomatoes were poisonous! (I sure did as a kid and my dad forced me to eat them, YUK).
• The yellow tomato variety is milder. The green tomato is crunchy and tangy.
• Smaller tomatoes like the Roma, Campari, grape and cherry varieties make the best raw salad tomato. They are less watery and have better flavor.

• Never store tomatoes in the refrigerator. Cool temperatures cause the tomato to turn its flavorful linolenic acid to the bland and grainy Z-3 hexenel. If you must have a cold tomato, place it in the fridge about an hour before serving.
• Basil sweetens the tomato and the mild and cool cucumber balances the tomatoey zing. That’s why so many tomatoe salads have basil and cucumber. For best results, use fresh basil, coarsely chopped.
• Fresh tomatoes picked STRAIGHT from the plant are the freshest. Grocery stores often stock tomatoes that have been picked while green, and allowed to ripen in a hot house or in the sun. These tomatoes just aren’t as flavorful. Even the “vine-ripened” tomatoes are blander then their garden counterparts. It pays to have a tomato plant in the garden!

Unfortunately, I am writing this in October, when all the tomato plants have turned to dust, lol. Still, the store-bought grape tomatoes are better than no tomatoes. So if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll go munch on a few and then puter with my wii remote controller! Have a great week.

My Kind of Meal

You know, there’s nothing like a luscious, huge salad to perk up a girl’s day. This is what I served the family recently.

It took a bit or work, all that cleaning and chopping and placement. But OH it was so worth it. I never liked salads as a kid, but maybe that was because the salad basically consisted of iceberg lettuce, a few tomatoes (yuk) and, on fancy days, sliced boiled egg. No exactly a salad.

The stuff I like, is it called a “salad,” really? It looks too luscious to be called something as simple as a salad. Better buy the buy life insurance before eating one of these– you may konk over from ecstasy. LOL

In other news, I *finally* boiled corn on the cob over the weekend. Here I am, in Upstate NY, surrounded by millions chowing down on the local sweet corn, and I’m dragging my feet. I love corn on the cob but it’s so much work. And eating it, while superb, is a chore, too. I know, I’m asking too much, lol. I never liked holding a piping hot, slippery cob oozing with butter and steam. I like my fork. But the corn is very, very good. And the husband was grateful I finally made it.

So that’s my menu right now– throwing miscellaneous veggies on the table, maybe grilling some meat (I don’t like eating so much meat, actually, but grilled veggies are somewhat tasteless). I am really at a loss for recipes right now. I miss the lasagna, the black bean soup, the baking flax seed bread…. hopefully some cold weather will arrive soon and break this meal monotony.

Four Foods For Friday #110

Ooo this is a nice one this week!

Let’s try something different. One question.

What can YOU make with

* chicken
* bacon
* cheese
* tomatoes

Hmmmm. Lots of people mentioned sandwiches. Honestly, I like sandwiches because they are so easy to make, but they are too dry for me. I always have to have a gallon of water besides me to eat one. The bread is just too dry. I dislike bread. And these days, I’d rather be snoozing away on my nice mattress than cooking. I have been SO. CRAZY. BUSY.

Anyway. The ingredients. Yeah.

Ummmmmmmmmm.

I’d make a salad. Nice and moist, easy, and YUMMY. Although, I’d probably pick out the tomatoes. Yick, I dislike tomatoes. Lots of bacon and chicken, though! With mozzarella cheese… mmmmm. Oh yeah, and add olives and spinach and… gee, here, try this!

Wow Chow Salad

2 leaves fresh kale
2 leaves fresh spinach
Chopped Romaine lettuce
Sliced red cabbage
Chopped bacon pieces (cooked!!)
Leftover grilled chicken, diced
Spoonful of pepperoncini, sliced
Pitted black olives
Mozzarella cheese, cubed
Artichokes, chopped

Drizzle with olive oil or balsamic vinegar.

OK OK add a few tomatoes. Pick them out and give them to the Hubs.

EAT!