Fried Green Tomatoes

My kitchen is not exactly the Whistle Stop Cafe, but I do have a crop of almost ripe/green tomatoes begging me to enjoy them. Last night we did for dinner. Don't get me wrong I can't wait until I have red, ripe and juicy ones but no reason not to enjoy a different type of tomato while we wait.

Fried green tomatoes (FGT) were a last minute addition to dinner and I had what I needed already in the pantry. Olive oil, milk, egg, flour, breadcrumbs and/or cornmeal (I used both) was all it took. Plus the tomato. I used a full grown plump, but not net ripe German Johnson. I really like this tomato variety of for FGT.

I sliced my tomato into 1/4 to 1/2 inch thickness, then salted and peppered each side of the slice.

While the salted slices were resting I prepared the ingredients for breading the FGT and heated olive oil in a skillet. Prepare milk, a beaten egg and dry ingredients in separate bowls. I used one plate for my flour, bread crumbs and corn meal.

It gets a little messy, but then I coated each salted tomato slice in milk, then flour, then egg, then corn meal/breadcrumbs. Once the olive oil was hot into the pan they went. Cook each side 4-5 min.Once I removed the FGT from the oil, I dropped them on a paper towel and lightly salt them again. Nothing left now but to enjoy the FGT with Idgie and Ruth.

So will I try FGT again? Absolutely they were not to difficult for a great something differnt for dinner. But for next time:

I used bread crumbs for two of my slices and corn meal for 2 of the FGT. I think next round I will use a mixture of both (maybe 80/20 cornmeal) as the final coating. I will also use a large enough pan to fry all of the slices at once. I could only fit two at a time and the oil got very messy. Maybe with a bit more planning I will have what I need for a great sauce for the FGT, something creamy, but with a little spicy kick.

Next to nothing gardening

I kept hearing about the discount/clearance plant table at Lowe's but it always seemed to evade me on my trips into the garden section. The plants that they put out on the clearance cart (deeply discounted) are still very much alive and just need a little TLC to be just as good a new.

My mom went on the spring garden tour of my Carolina hometown and one of the most beautiful spots was a perennial garden which according to the gardener was filled almost entirely by plants from the elusive discount table. The deal hunter inside of me just had to find it. I added it to my summer to-do-list and that was it.

Sunday I finally got lucky and came home with these:


I got 4 daylillies for $2 each; 1 peony for $5; 1 gaura for $1.50; and 3 irises for $2 each.

All in all I'm sure that I saved at least as much as I spent (if not more), not to mention these are all perennials so they should be back again next year bigger and better. So keep and eye out in your garden section (especially this time of year) and don't let a few brown spots or wilty leaves scare you off.

House Tour- How does your garden grow? (Part 1)

I am a bit late posting for Kelly's House Tour Fridays, but it was a busy holiday weekend.  

We have a pretty time intensive back yard and unfortunately I don't always have the time I should to put into it. Carolina Husband works on the yard/grass and I get the rest.

Every year I have great intentions to get my vegetable garden back into shape (our first summer in the house I had home grown cantaloupe and watermelon). I really didn't do so well for 2009 either, but one thing I will never miss out on is planting tomatoes. For me, fresh backyard grown tomatoes off the vine are one of the final things to signal that summer has started. I have only gotten one red and ripe yet, but it seems that once they start turning we have a plentiful supply until September. This year I also have a cucumber vines which produces cukes faster that we eat or give away.  A new addition this summer is a tomatillo plant, I am still not sure what I should be waiting for with this one. There are lots of yellow flowers, but no fruit so far.

Tomatillo, tomato and cucumber vines on the side of our house.

Another summer garden tradition in my family is filling a strawberry jar with begonias or inpatients. I chose the later this year and have them in the shade next to my puppy garden art from Pier One.

Blue strawberry jar from Garden Ridge and Dog Garden Art from Pier One

I have worked very hard (with my mom's help) to fill the natural space surrounding our yard with perennials in hopes of curbing the weeds. I have daisys, cone flowers and beebaum which have filled in nicely this year-Very English Garden. Many of these and the other perennials in the yard have been divided and came from my mom or grandmother's garden.

Daisy, Purple Cone Flower and a Dahlia not yet blooming

There are lots of other pockets garden to show off, but I will save those for a later post when I can truly highlight the spring blooms of our lilys, gladiolas, hydrangea and irises. They have all already come and gone this season.

The "It's Officially Summer" to do list

I can't believe that it is actually June 1, where has 2009 gone. With the near 90 degree Carolina heat, summer has officially started and so has my list of projects to tackle while we have sunlight until 9pm and lazy summer afternoons to fill.

1-Create fabric headboard for our guest bedroom. I have the fabric, foam and wood. With house guests coming Friday, can I get it completedby then?

2-Tackle the backyard jungle. The week of showers filled our rain barrel and created a jungle of weeds in our back yard.

3-Sew pillows from two sets of remnant fabrics pick up this spring.

4-Roses for our back yard planter box.

5-Turn our junk room into a room I can stand to actually be in. This has been a work in progress since we moved into our house 3 years ago. It's better or worse at different points of the year, but I am determined to make it a space for me.

6-Stain side table for master bedroom.

7-Replace growing weeds in our planter box with colorful cosmos flowers.

8-Find the discounted/half price plant table and our local Lowe's.

9-Do all of this while traveling, planning baby showers, attending weddings, enjoying friends, hosting houseguests, and snacking on summer food and beverage. Not to mention working a full-time job, laundry, keeping plants alive, cleaning house and getting at tan.

I am sure the list will go from 9 to 19 by the end of the summer, I did get a head start by checking off a few things this weekend:

-Plant 2 strawberry jars with shade loving impatients-Check

-Scrub Patio #1 seating (2 rockers and 2 adirondack chairs) and straighten up Patio #1's bakers rack/planting area-Check

Lots to do inside and out.

Reduce, Reuse...

Recycle--rain water that is. I have been wanting to add a rain barrel to our yard for several summers now. To my city dwelling friends who ask "What exactly is a rain barrel?" My simple answer it that its basically just a way to collect rain water from your own roof and gutter, store it and then use it when you need it for a variety of purposes around the yard-keeping your flowers or veggies soaked, filling bird baths or garden ponds or even washing cars (or your Carolina dog:)

My dad made a rain barrel last summer and it seemed pretty simple (once you find the barrel). I am certainly not the "greenest" girl on the block, but my theory is that it's the little things, or in this case a big thing using a very large repurposed pickle barrel.

My Carolina husband jumped on board and after a few hours wandering the aisles at Lowe's for all of he supplies he was ready to go. So here is how he did it.

1. Most of the needed supplies are easily found at your local hardware store. We picked up:

-(2) 1/2 inch outdoor faucet or spout (ours was supposed to be for a gas boiler)

-(2) 1/2 inch rubber washers

-(2) 1/2 inch gold sockets

-caulk

-roll of screen (to fix a window or screen door)

-6 foot garden hose

-Then there is the barrel. We reused a pickle barrel that my dad picked up for us in eastern Carolina, but I really think any sturdy plastic trash can or large bucket or drum would do. Just make sure it has a tight lid.

2. Once you get everything home its time to find the drill and get started. You will have better luck with an electical drill as opposed to cordless. Locate where you want your spouts to be and then begin drilling. Be sure the drill bit that you use will make a large enough hole to thread the spout through the barrel, but small enough that it's a tight fit. We added two spouts-one close to the bottom of the barrel for the traditional drain/watering can fill and one spout about half way up the side of the barrel to attach a soaker hose.

You may want some help keeping the barrel steady while you drill or you can sit on it.

3. With the holes drilled, start threading the spout through the front of the barrel. After you get the spout through the hole, secure the spout from inside if the barrel (you are going to have to crawl in) with the rubber washer and gold socket. We added a little caulk on the barrel side of the rubber washer for extra seal.

Screw the spout and the socket together as tight as you can (you may need pliers), but make sure the spout ends up still facing down to the ground.

4. Use the screen to create a mesh sieve for the lid of your barrel. This will let water into the barrel, while keeping leaves and sticks out. Our pickle barrel already had a nice pre-cut opening so all we had to do was screw the outside of the lid back over the screen. Depending on the barrel you find, you may need to cut an opening then secure the mesh.

5. Now you are almost done. You have a barrel, it just needs to be put in place. You will need to find a spot under a gutter spout. The whole point of the barrel is to harness the water collection power of your roof and gutters. Using a jig saw or utility knife cut your gutter downspout to the the height of the top of your barrel. Re-attach the bottom gutter elbow to the downspout to direct the rain water from the downspout right into the rain barrel.

You can set it in place right on the ground or on brick or blocks for extra steadiness or height. Some folks add an overflow hole at the top of the barrel to direct the overflow if the water fills more than the barrel can hold. We also added a 6 foot garden hose onto the bottom spout to make it a bit eaiser to fill up a watering can.

There you have it.  Now all you need it a 55 gallon rain storm to fill it up.