Word? Tomatoes!

When Hurricane Irene blew by I was out of town. Luckily my sister had come over before the storm and moved our car to a safe place, secured all of the windows and harvested any ripe veggies. Then our neighbor Sid came over and took down awnings, placed projectiles out of the way of the wind and double checked everything else battening down all that needed to be.

I was so worried about the garden but there was nothing I could do. I just kept my fingers crossed and vowed to never leave Appleton in the Summer again. Upon my return to our home, I found the yard littered with tomatoes which had blown off the vine. The plants were bent over and looked as though they had taken quite a beating. Bean supports were completely blown over and some tree limbs were down but fortunately we did not really have the impact many others to our south and west experienced. Everyday since I've returned, I have to pick tomatoes. They are ripening like crazy! 

What should I do with the tomatoes?

Red ones, yellow ones, orange too!

Big ones, small ones, green ones, whew!

Tomato or apple?

Heirloom on the vine

Paste tomatoes yet to ripe

 I do not have enough tomatoes to make a batch to "put-up" (yet) but I did manage to make a few jars of rustic salsa, one of which we have already enjoyed on nachos. I can't decide what to do with the green tomatoes. My first inclination would be Fried Green Tomatoes but I know that "fried" is not a nice word in the Whole Foods, Plant-Based Health genre so perhaps Green Tomato Salsa?? Any ideas?

 

California Salsa!!

I found the perfect recipe to satisfy my Fried Green Tomato craving!  I immediately found a recipe on Susan V's site Fat Free Vegan. As we are both lovers of southern cooking, I knew I could count on Susan to have developed a recipe for this Southern favorite. Hey, Why re-invent the wheel? I think I will try it tonight and perhaps top it with some of the California Salsa! Here is a link to the recipe FFV Fried Green Tomato Recipe.
You will love Fat Free Vegan blog and website, trust me :-)

Here is the recipe for the Rustic California Salsa I made:
1/2 Sweet Onion
1 -2 cloves garlic
1 -2 Jalapeno Pepper, seeded
juice of 1 lime
chopped cilantro to taste
1 t. roasted cumin
1 t. salt
6 or so Roma Tomatoes (or equivalent, I used a mix of lots of types and colors :-) cut into quarters.

Process first 7 ingredients in food processor or blender on the "pulse" until chopped, add tomatoes and pulse again until just mixed but still a bit chunky. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Sláinte!