Sunday, July 18, 2010

Fried Green Tomatoes

I woke up waaaayyyy too early this morning and got nothing productive done before Josie and Rob woke up.  The three of us hung out preparing for the normal Saturday summer routine of biking to the Market at the Square and afternoon pottery/art classes for the kids.  The boys slept and slept until Josie and I grew impatient and went upstairs to wake them up.  This resulted in me somehow falling back to sleep and waking up to an empty house.  The family left without me, but I wasn't too disappointed since the day turned into a scorcher with humidity that makes you want to hang out on the porch (that is the coolest place "in" the house on days like today) in the hammock.  My family took pity on my tired/lame self and brought me brunch.  Common Ground Co-op debuted their new vegan breakfast burrito and my family delivers.  The combo of rice, black beans, scrambled tofu, and potatoes topped with salsa was just what I needed to get recharged for the afternoon.  Thank you, awesome co-op, thank you thoughtful family!

Rob and I don't remember actually eating fried green tomatoes before, but I'm sure we've talked about making fried green tomatoes.  This year, I understand why people started eating them.  We lovingly started most of our tomato plants inside from seed (thanks to Kate and Ben for the lights!) this year and I swear it seems like they are taking forever to ripen.  I finally found a few in the garden which were big enough to eat green and I noticed that my magical cookbook (1,000 Vegan Recipes) has two fried green tomato recipes (I know!).  After a lovely swim in our neighbors' Greg and Vicky's pool, we were cool enough to actually cook.  Rob felt inspired by our July 4th to grill portobello mushrooms outside.  I decided on the Panko-Fried Green Tomatoes with Peanut Sauce from 1,000 Vegan Recipes.  The tomatoes were a hit and the sauce was excellent.  So fast, so easy, so good!  While Rob was grilling the mushrooms, we chatted on our porch with neighbors, Katie and Ian and their adorable two year old daughter played with Josie.  Then our neighbor, Dave, biked up and asked if we would like some ripe tomatoes from his awesome garden.  Hell yes!  I know I've said it a million times, but I looovvveee our neighborhood!  I bought 10 lbs of fresh organic blueberries from a farmer in Indiana, through Strawberry Fields and we are quickly working our way through them.  The berries were a snack for Josie and her friend while they played and the leftovers made their way to the dinner plate as well.  Rob roasted some peppers to top the mushrooms, ripe tomatoes also topped the mushrooms thanks to Dave.  Thanks to Loretta, we had to have focaccia bread from our local bakery, Pekara, for the mushrooms.  We also sauteed some kale from the garden (not pictured, I was trying to catch the last rays of sun...we ate dinner by citronella candlelight on the porch).  I used blackstrap molasses in the peanut sauce instead of sugar and double the recipe.  I am so glad I did, the sauce is great on anything!

I'll leave you with Fried Green Tomatoes, the movie.  I couldn't find my favorite line by Sipsey, "A big old ox like Grady won't sit next to a coloured child, but he eats eggs which shoot right out of a chicken's ass."

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