Dinner Tonight: Spaghetti

Okay class, its time for the spelling bee.
Can anyone tell me what S-P-A-G-H-E-T-T-I spells?
Spaghetti? Um, nooo. Any other guesses?
Yes, that's right S-P-A-G-H-E-T-T-I spells EASY!
Great job and thank you!

During September I bottled tomatoes one day. It made a huge mess, was exhausting, etc, etc, etc... And then my tomato plants had the nerve to produce MORE tomatoes! How rude of them! Okay, okay, I was actually ecstatic with the abundant production of my four plants. But after making a huge mess one day, I couldn't justify making the mess over and over and over for just a few tomatoes at a time. So.... I froze them! Yep, I froze tomatoes. Have any of you ever tried this? I got the idea from good old Martha but changed the baking temp and time a little. Basically, you halve the tomatoes, arrange them on a oven-safe cooling rack and bake them at a low temperature for a long time to dry them. I am sure you could also just use a food dehydrator. I did mine at 250 degrees for about 2 hours. I also sprinkled them with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning - ready for spaghetti sauce! Once they are dried out (they still remain fairly mushy), throw them in freezer zip-loc bags and into the freezer! It worked out perfect for preserving my small batches of late tomatoes.

I used some of my frozen goodies tonight for dinner. Check it out! (They will take a little longer to cook than regular bottled tomatoes - they are frozen, people!) Add tomato sauce and you have yourself a meal!!! Have I ever mentioned how MUCH I LOVE EASY???

(Here's my un-attended sauce 15 minutes later. Perfectly lovely and easy. All on its own!)

Dinner Tonight: BLT

It has been a fairly busy day and tonight Husband and I are leaving for home. Thus, dinner is low on the priority list. I was busy making a salad for tomorrow (ever tried broccoli salad?) and was smart enough to cook a few extra slices of bacon.

Have I ever mentioned my undying love for bacon?? Oh how I love that greasy goodness...

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Where was I? .... Oh! Dinner.... I am taking Easy Street and we are having BLTs. Mine will be in the form of a salad; Flint's will be a sandwich.

Side note: Have you ever considered what an oxymoron a BLT is? I have an idea! Lets take bacon, pretty much the worst food for our hearts, and eat it with tomatoes and lettuce, so that we don't have to feel so guilty about eating it :) But don't worry, I've never felt guilty about eating bacon, even without the LT added!

...I always love an excuse to take it easy - especially when it involves bacon :)

Everyday Food

That sounds like my exact goal. I want 'everyday food.' Ingredients that I have on hand. A recipe that doesn't take eternity. And NOT a sinkful of 1000000 dirty dishes.

I signed up for the Everyday Food Blog weekly newsletter (thanks, Martha). It is supposed to come every Tuesday and give me some fun ideas. I will update you once I get my first couple newsletters and let you know whether its worth the 'inbox-clutter."

(Even though I love to watch Martha on TV, sometimes her recipes really aren't practical, and that's why I'm a little spectical about this newsletter. Hopefully the old gal proves me wrong!)

Rachael Ray v. Mom

The other day I was watching Rachael Ray and she made this Tex-Mex BBQ Turkey Tamale Pie which I thought looked SO good. I spent the rest of the day wishing I had polenta on hand so that I could try this new recipe out. Well, somewhere during that day, I realized that I grew up eating a recipe that is almost identical. Ok, identical might be pushing it. But similar? Yes Very very similar. They are in the 'family.' So, here is the Mom version (aka easier, cheaper, and more likely that you have the ingredients on hand version) of Rachael's fancy skillet dinner.

Cornmeal Topped Sausage Pie

1 lb sausage
1 1/2 c green pepper, chopped
1 chopped onion
1 can navy beans (I used pinto!)
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 can tomato paste (I was out of this as well, so I substituted tomato sauce and cut back on the water)
1/2 c water
1 t sugar