Well, I waited as long as I could to take out all the summer vegetable plants, especially the tomato plants that were looking pretty sad but still had plenty of fruit. I thought the tomatoes would get ripe since we have been getting some 90-degree temperatures lately, but nothing is happening on those bushes, nada. The tomatoes are just sitting happily on the vines, doing absolutely nothing. They are just green, and it looks like time stood still. I couldn’t stand it anymore, and finally this past weekend I harvested all the green tomatoes and chopped down the tomato plants. I noticed with a batch of green tomatoes that we harvested a couple of weeks ago, that when they sit in a bowl indoors they do slowly start ripening. I’ll do the same with this last tomato harvest of the season.
Last harvest of the season
Looking at these green tomatoes I recalled a movie I watched years ago back in 1991 called Fried Green Tomatoes. I remembered liking the movie a lot as it had a great storyline set in Alabama about an unlikely friendship between a young waitress at a local diner and an elderly lady she volunteers to give company to at a Senior Citizen’s Home. I also remembered that it was the first time I had heard of fried green tomatoes. Continue reading Fried Green Tomatoes. Last Harvest of the Season→
My Mom made the best grilled cheese sandwich. Growing up my Mom made grilled cheese sandwiches on a regular basis, especially on the weekends for a quick lunch. Hers was the only grilled cheese sandwich I knew. So naturally, when I started making them for my kids, I followed my Mom’s recipe. Apparently this isn’t the standard recipe that most people are used to. I didn’t know that. Anjali and Rani’s friends loved these grilled cheese sandwiches. When I made these grilled cheese sandwiches for the kids I would get surprised happy reactions. Kids asked me for the recipe; it’s amazingly delicious I was told. Having only known my Mom’s grilled cheese sandwich I just figured that’s how it’s always made. Turns out it was my Mom’s version of a grilled cheese sandwich.
What makes my Mom’s grilled cheese so good? It’s the simple good old-fashioned ingredients that go in it. Nothing complicated. Mom never used American cheese; she took the trouble to grate a block of good cheddar cheese. She used white bread or sourdough, fresh tomatoes, and onions. She only used butter, no margarine, no olive oil and no substitutes. That’s it.
Over the years I have messed around with Mom’s grilled cheese by adding fancy cheeses, gourmet condiments, and sautéed mushrooms and peppers. But I never get the wow reaction I get when I make the original Mom’s grilled cheese. Now I just stick to her recipe.
Pasta shells stuffed with ricotta cheese, spinach or baby kale, onions, mozzarella, eggs, nutmeg, and salt/pepper. All topped with marinara sauce. It’s delicious, nutritious, and easy to make!
