Summer Tomato Meals

It’s summer time and for us that means loading up on foods that we rarely eat in the off season.  While we eat some grape or cherry tomatoes, we rarely buy tasteless slicing tomatoes, we generally only eat the Malibu Pole Green Beans that come from the Mennonite market although we might cook a mess or two of something else, and we keep a bag of frozen corn in the freezer for use in soups and such but eat none fresh.  While off-season okra tastes the same, it’s just always been a summer dish for us.

So here are some tomato meals that we have eaten recently in addition to the usual tomato sandwiches, tomato and cottage cheese, etc.  First up is Roz’s Italian Cheesy Tomato Pie with Buttermilk Biscuit Crust which Cindy made for the first time and it was delicious.

It’s Tomato Season – Biscuit BLT, Mini Pies, Kennedy Quiche, Tomato Pie

We are trying to take advantage of our ability to buy real vine ripened (not picked partially green), local tomatoes and after many, many taste tests over the years of growing tomatoes, we try to get Cherokee Purples when we can.  

Prosciutto & Cheddar Scrambled Eggs & Latkes And Not Exactly Oklahoma Onion Burgers

Have you wondered why I'm including two dishes on most posts - even by doing this I already have posts lined up thru Jun 16.  I could post more often but like the three day interval.

I’m getting toward the end of my series on scrambled eggs (2 more) using recipes from the “The Taste Of Home’s” 30 New Ways To Eat Scrambled Eggs and now is a good time for this one as we have some country ham on hand.  Prosciutto is basically country ham (in Italian) that has been cured for a longer period (a year or so) than our normal country ham and it is normally sliced very thin.  For this meal, I used the recipe for Prosciutto & Cheddar Breakfast Biscuits from Taste Of Home, as the previous dishes have been but I omitted the biscuits.

Random Stuff, Some Nature, Some RV & Women’s Hair

If you like fast food breakfast biscuits and don’t pass by the restaurants very often just buy a dozen of your favorite biscuits (Hardees, McDonalds, Bojangles, etc.), freeze them individually and store in a bag in the freezer.  Then, when you need a biscuit sandwich fix you are ready as I was with this meal.  I had ham, Swiss cheese, and egg on hand to make this one.  I just nuked the biscuit a little to warm it then the cheese and ham then cooked the egg.

Asparagus Omelet And Manchego Scramble

By picking two patches, I have asparagus out the wazoo and this is what I get every other day without picking the little ones so I'm eating plenty of it in different dishes and this bunch went to the neighbor.

I took a break from my series on scrambled eggs and made an asparagus omelet using the small spears and a recipe from All Recipes simply named Asparagus Omelet that I modified for a single serving.

Cheesy Asparagus Then Denver Omelet Scrambled Eggs, Each With A Gravy Biscuit

After my first sausage gravy meal that was just two biscuits, I decided to go on the hunt for different scrambled egg dishes to side them with and since our asparagus is now bearing, it seemed like a good place to start.  I did a web search and ended up on the “Taste Of Home” site titled 30 New Ways to Eat Scrambled Eggs.  Since they didn’t have one for asparagus, I just made up the one below.

Chicken Shepherd’s Pie

Cindy wanted to make this dish and we agreed it would work well for our Friday get together.  She got the recipe for Chicken Shepherd’s Pie from The Kitchen Girl blog and followed it except she increased the ingredients by 50% (shown below) and used corn starch rather than flour for gluten-free. 

Pineola, NC Rally – Trip Day 5 & 6 - Camp Meals & Louise's

There was no planned group activity for Wednesday so it was an opportunity for folks to do as they pleased, except we did have two group meals planned at the campground, beginning with breakfast.  During our rally, we had use of the campground’s open-air pavilion and this was the location for breakfast including a fire in the fireplace – also our evening fire location nice setup on the banks of the Linville River.

Individual Tomato Pies & Old Smoker

It’s been a while since we had these and about seven years since I posted about them so I thought it was time again here in the middle of tomato season.  First, let me say that you are really missing out if you don’t try them as they are roll your eyes back good to us. 

Individual Tomato Pies

I don’t know why, but we haven’t made these in years and they are outrageously good.  The recipe comes from the Roseville B&B in Marshall, TX but I don’t have a link for it.

Tennessee Travelers October Rally – Crossville, TN – Days 3 & 4

We awoke Wednesday morning to a beautiful sound – a desperately needed steady rain for a few hours and it was accompanied by a 20F temperature drop – thankfully fall has finally arrived.

It was a free day so after our morning guy-coffee and making about 30 hamburger patties, some of us went to the grocery store to get the ingredients for a batch of Ranch Beans for our cookout.

While the dogs hung around the coach with me while I made the beans, the girls went into downtown Crossville to check out a couple of stores.

That evening, the guys grilled up some burgers and brats which we sided with the beans and some chips for a nice evening meal which was preceded and followed by lots of visiting.  Once again, the Ranch Beans were a big hit.

Following the rain and cold front that moved through, Thursday morning we awoke to 33F temps but the fireplace and electric Aqua-Hot kept the coach nice and warm.  While I initially thought it was a waste of space, I’ve grown to appreciate the electric fireplace as it allows us to not have to use the Aqua-Hot’s diesel burner and heat totally with the electricity we have bought from the campground.

On Thursday morning we had a potluck breakfast prior to the annual business meeting and this is the list of food we had.

Milo and Dianne - pastries

Bob and Pam - hash brown casserole

Louie and Sandy – sausage gravy

Tom and Barb - ham roll ups

Bob and Lil - biscotti

Dick and Marge - biscuits

Larry and Bev - scrambled eggs and sausage

Daryl - egg casserole with veggies

Del and Patsy - bacon and orange juice

Tip and Karen - bowl of mixed fruit

Bill and Barb - yogurt and fruit

David and Francis - donuts

Don and Rachel - banana nut bread

As you might imagine we had way more than enough to eat.

After the meal, we held our annual meeting which included the election of officers for the next two year term.  After the election, the wife of the new president topped his head with a crown and dubbed him King Louie – I think he actually blushed a little.

That afternoon, we made the 45 minute drive to Muddy Pond, TN which is a Mennonite community here on the Cumberland Plateau.  We stopped at the Leather Shop and General Store first where they have lots of stuff but very little from this community.  We still bought some cheese, hominy grits, and molasses (which is Muddy Pond made).

Our next stop was the variety store where the only purchase was some just-made, warm, fried apple pies, which were very good - not on the diet but couldn't pass up a warm one, but at least it was small.

Our final stop was the home of a lady making baked goods for some yeast rolls, then back to the campground – it was a good way to spend the afternoon and another fun day at the rally.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

10/16-10/17/19 event dates

Italian Sausage Pasta Bake & A Short Rant

While Cindy was here for three days between her trips (now in FL with Bev), we had fish every night and I had it another night so I got my fix and then I ate the last of my casseroles so I was ready to move on to something else and pasta is always a favorite.  So after a night of chili, I went freezer and came up with a package of sweet Italian sausage from our favorite Wurst Kitchen and since I like the idea of casseroles to eat on for several meals I went in search of baked pasta dishes and found several that were pretty simple so I used them as a guide and made up my own.

Amish Breakfast Casserole - Feeding Myself Breakfasts – Part 1

Bev, Pat (SIL), Cindy, and Pat (neighbor) piled in the car and headed to Marco Island for their annual trek to the beach and as usual I’m dog sitting and looking after myself.  While they all tried to pack lite, the back of the Buick (back row of seats folded down) was almost completely full but I didn’t think about a pic until they had left.  

Ten days into their two weeks, I will be driving the motor home down along with my buddy, Joe, acting as navigator, extra road watcher, and dog wrangler then everyone but Pat and Bev will fly home (about $50 on Allegient) and we will hang around Florida for a while. 

Often times, Bev will cook me some dishes before she leaves, but since I’ve been in a cooking mood lately, I advised her not to bother and I would cook for myself.  A couple of days prior to her departure, our freezer quit working and we moved everything out until we could get it fixed (turned out to be a blocked drain).  Since we touched everything in the freezer moving it out and back (re-organized) I knew what all was available to me for the week.

A Few Tasty Chicken Dishes

We had some leftover chicken a while back and Bev decided to turn it into pot pie.  Since my favorite part of pot pie is the bread (crust), she used frozen biscuits on top.

It was delicious comfort food but since the biscuits were a little soggy on the bottom, next time we’ll just bake them separately and spoon the filling over them – it won’t be a pot pie then but it will still be delicious.

We rarely ever roast a chicken in the oven (I don’t think I’ve ever done one) so I was surprised when Bev came home with a big hen and announced she wanted to have roast chicken.  So I went on line, found Ina Garten’s recipe (who else would I go to), and cooked my first ever roast chicken.

It was very good and we had lots of leftovers for the next dish she wanted to make – chicken broccoli casserole.  So I went to the web and found a recipe that contained rice and measured the chicken by volume rather than number of pieces.  I turned it over to Bev and, of course, she worked her magic on it to come up with this recipe.

Ingredients:

2¼ cups cooked chicken

3 cups cooked rice (1 cup uncooked)

2 cups chopped broccoli

1 large carrot, diced (mostly for color and will use two next time)

1 (8 ounce) can cream of chicken soup

8 oz French onion dip (for a little more flavor)

3/8 cup butter

1 cup or so of chicken broth or water (see note)

1⁄2 cup chopped onion

6 ounces shredded cheddar cheese - divided

Note: Bev used our rice cooker and after mixing everything together, decided it was too dry so she mixed in a cup of chicken both).

Directions:

1. Boil broccoli till tender; drain.

2. Lightly grease a 13 x 9 casserole dish.

3. Melt butter in large frying pan and saute onions till glassy. Add soup and dip and stir well. 

4. Add most of the cheese and mix till melted. Remove from heat.

5. Add all ingredients to a large bowl, mix well, and add broth if mixture is too dry.

6. Pour into the prepared dish.

7. Sprinkle more shredded cheese on top – Bev used Pepper Jack, Cheddar, and Mozzarella - I think we like cheese.

8. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until bubbly (Bev made it ahead of time so it was cold from the fridge – she baked it for 50 minutes covered with foil and 10 minutes uncovered).

The casserole was very good and will definitely go on the keeper list - I especially liked the use of the French Onion Dip.

Quick knee update - All seems to be progressing on schedule.  I walk with no aids around the house, but use the cane when I'm going for walks.  Everything I do to rehab my right leg I also do for my left leg so it should be much better prepared when it's turn comes for a new knee.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

12/17/15 event date

2015 Western Trip – Days 56 & 57 – Grand Junction Area

After three days of driving, I didn’t care whether or not we did much for the first day in Grand Junction, but I was up for breakfast at a place in the railroad station complex called Pufferbelly Restaurant (Pufferbelly = steam locomotive) with our kind of menu.

A Southern Breakfast & Sandwich Experiment

For those of you who know Bev is in Florida and may be worried about me surviving, fear not.

Two fresh-from-a-local-farm eggs, Benton’s country ham, and Bev’s homemade biscuits from the freezer.  After I took the shot, I split the biscuits, cut the tomato in half and added them and some country ham to get two delicious breakfast sandwiches sided with scrambled eggs.  It got the day started right and lasted me til supper – I just love breakfast.

Leftovers Breakfast - Garage - A Senior Moment

BREAKFAST
Perhaps the best part of our Wine Club party food was a bunch of the practice biscuits still in the freezer and gravy left over from the party to which we added a couple of scrambled eggs, and picked-that-morning tomatoes with cottage cheese.  I'm pretty sure tomato and cottage cheese did not originate locally, but it still seemed like a delicious southern breakfast to me.

A Taste Of East Tennessee for our Wine Club - Part 1

We hosted the September meeting of our wine club and selected a theme of “Food and Wine From East Tennessee” so each couple was asked to bring a bottle of wine from our area for tasting and a small plate dish from this area or the southern mountains.  The photos are courtesy of Big Daddy Dave and should give you a sense of the evening.

We began with appetizers of pickled watermelon rinds, pickled beets, and Bev's pimento cheese stuffed celery washed down with some wine and margaritas.

Easy Individual Tomato Pies

As summer and tomato season begin to wind down, it’s time to be sure we’ve eaten plenty of the good ones and this meal was to accomplish this goal.  I had something else in mind for breakfast but Bev wanted to make individual tomato pies using the recipe from the Roseville Bed and Breakfast courtesy of Suzanne Cook & Company.  We served them to the attendees at our RV rally in May and they went over well.  

A Southern Summer Breakfast

Kathy and the Texas grand kids are visiting and this was an easy meal for a crowd.  I debated about whether to title this post as I did or as "THE Summer Southern Breakfast."  Either way, it was delicious - frozen biscuits (always Pillsbury for us), from-our-garden maters, sliced cheese (one cheddar & one pepper jack), and Wrights bacon (our back-up to Benton’s), and a locally grown cantaloupe.