THE TIME IS NIGH FOR TOMATO PIE

If you love tomatoes the way I do, this is the season you’ve been dreaming of. I buy “hothouse” tomatoes most of the year, but they don’t come close to fresh, homegrown. After a few months of winter, I try to recall how summer tomatoes taste, but they’re only a distant memory. But now, after a long rainy season, Indiana tomatoes are about as good as they ever get. Tomatoes are available at stands scattered round town, and friendly gardeners are sharing their bounty with everyone they know. The time is nigh for tomato pie.

I’ve shared my tomato pie recipe before, but this year I want to emphasize the most important part of the directions. After you bake the pie for 30 or 40 minutes, take it out of the oven and let it set for 20 minutes. I know, that sounds like a long time. But tomatoes get very hot in the oven, and also a bit watery. If you serve the pie straight from the oven, it’s liable to burn your mouth, and it’s going to be too runny. Be sure you let it set up, so that it’s nice and firm when served.

Various recipes call for different sizes and arrangements of tomatoes. I’ve found that slicing three big tomatoes about half an inch thick, then arranging them in pinwheel fashion works best. And it makes a prettier pie if you mix yellow and red tomatoes. However, some people don’t like yellow tomatoes, and they aren’t always available.

Unless you make pie crust from scratch, this is a pretty easy recipe, and doesn’t take a whole lot of time to make. I prefer using prepared, packaged pastry from the supermarket. . Most recipes call for ½ teaspoon of salt, but I leave that out because the cheeses are fairly salty, and I prefer low sodium foods.

Fresh Tomato Pie

Ingredients:

1 9-inch pie shell, unbaked.

3 large, ripe tomatoes

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil, or one teaspoon dried

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup grated Cheddar cheese

¼ cup cracker or bread crumbs.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a 9 inch pie pan with one pie crust. Prick the side and bottom with a fork, and bake about 10 minutes. Remove to a rack. (you can do this earlier in the day if you like) Crust will be partially baked but not too brown.

Slice the tomatoes and place in a pinwheel fashion to fill the pie shell. Sprinkle with basil. Combine the garlic powder, mayonnaise, Parmesan and Cheddar together in a small bowl. Use a spatula to spread the mixture evenly over the tomatoes. It won’t completely cover them. Sprinkle with bread or cracker crumbs.

Bake the pie at 375 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes until golden brown. Allow pie to cool 20 minutes before serving.

Makes 6 servings. About 300 calories per serving.

The time is nigh for tomato pie!

August 11, 2021August 11, 2021

MASKS MAKE LIFE EASIER FOR WOMEN

Most everyone complained about wearing masks for a year. Masks are hot and sweaty once you’ve been walking around for awhile—even during cold weather outside. But they’re worse in hot weather. All of us breathed a sigh of relief when the mask mandate ended and we could go back to being our old selves. Wearing makeup and styling our hair again was a treat. And yet, when the delta strain of covid-19 cases surged this week, it was deja vu. Back to the dark days of mask wearing, before the vaccine was available. But a funny thing happened as I prepared to go shopping. I realized I didn’t need to fool around with eyebrow pencil, blush, foundation or lipstick. Didn’t even have to worry about my hair. I could drive to the store and walk around incognito. I hate to admit it, but masks make life easier for women.

Have you ever observed the cosmetics section of a pharmacy, and marveled at all the products available? Entire walls of lipsticks, eye liner, blush, foundation, mascara—it’ staggering. Then on to the next aisle with rows of fancy shampoos, conditioners, hair treatments and hair sprays. No wonder Revlon and Loreal are so profitable. With a lot of time, effort, and expensive products, plain Jenny can become Jennifer Lawrence or Lopez.

Cosmetic manufacturing profit margins must have dived during the pandemic, although they didn’t make any public statements to that effect. All I know is that I didn’t buy a single new tube of lipstick. Or any other cosmetics, for that matter. And I learned to cut my own hair.

The pursuit of beauty has become a bigger business than I can ever remember back in the fifties and sixties. Yes, there were ” beauty parlors” where affluent women could get their hair done and nails manicured. But there were no nail salons, eyebrow threading kiosks, false eyelashes, botox bars, skin treatment parlors.. Those were the stuff of Hollywood stars, not real women. And yet, with the help of a little lipstick, we still attracted boyfriends. And it was a lot less work getting ready for a date.

Let’s face it. Masks makes life easier for women. And save money, too.

August 9, 2021August 9, 2021

BACK TO SUNDAY BRUNCH POTS & PANS

Who doesn’t love Sunday Brunch? Bacon, eggs, pancakes, waffles, hash browns….all delicious, but also labor intensive. Not to mention the clean up. Soon after we retired, my husband decided we should go out for Sunday brunch. In our working years, we’d both had high pressure jobs, and hunkered down on weekends at home to recoup. (See sidebar of our books available on Amazon: Chasing Their Losses, and A Preacher Called Sinn.) But now, it was a pleasant way to have brunch without all the mess. And then, Covid-19 brought our Sunday morning outings to a screeching halt for over a year. Finally, we got vaccinated, and could enjoy going to I-Hop, Bob Evans, Cracker Barrel, and other local restaurants once again. But Covid-19 cases are surging in our city, and we’ve decided to stick around home. It’s back to Sunday Brunch Pots and Pans for me.

Back to Sunday Brunch pots and pans again. — Back to Sunday Brunch pots & pans again. Covid-19 cases are surging , so we can’t go out to restaurants.

Let’s say we decide to replicate a restaurant menu. First, peel an orange or other fresh fruit. Then, warm 2 plates in oven and set the table. . Next, Pan #1: Fry bacon and sausage. Fry eggs. Pan #2.: Waffles or pancakes: Pan #3: Make toast and keep it warm in the oven. Pan #4: Hash browns(maybe) Cup # 1 Hot Chocolate: Cup #2 Coffee for me: Wow! I’m almost too tired to sit down and eat. My husband enjoys every morsel, so that makes it worth the effort. Almost. However, when he get up from the table, my job really begins. Cleaning up all the mess, scrubbing the pots and pans, loading the dishwasher. My husband would help, but like most women, I’d rather have the kitchen to myself.

I miss all the cooks, servers, bus boys and managers who brought us those memorable Sunday Brunches throughout the years. Problem is, most restaurants are now short of help. Even if you’re brave enough to venture out, you could wait a long time before being served. And if more people start eating at home again, the few people who do have jobs could lose them. The vicious cycle of Covid-19 lockdowns and unemployment may start all over again.

And so, like it or not, it’s back to Sunday Brunch Pots & Pans.

August 7, 2021August 7, 2021

IS BIDEN A MODERN CHARLEMAGNE?

We usually think of early European kings as men who started wars, collected taxes and had people beheaded. Rarely do we think of them as venturing into healthcare. But Charlemagne was different. In the eighth century, he enacted a law requiring that all of his subjects must consume flaxseed. Considering he founded the Holy Roman Empire, that meant a whole lot of people were under his command. In the USA, the president of the United States is about as close you can get to a king. Trouble is, we’re a democracy. Presidents can’t make laws on their own. But sometimes, they come pretty close. Is Biden a modern Charlemagne?

Charlemagne may have been onto something. Many nutritionists call flaxseed one of the most powerful plant foods on the planet. There’s some evidence it may help reduce your risk of heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes.

But I suspect Charlemagne might have had the same problem as Biden. People don’t always do what’s best for them. They might have kept flaxseed in their homes, just to comply with the law, but that doesn’t mean that they always consumed it. It would have pretty easy to throw the seeds out the window on a windy day. And I’ll bet you that about 50% of his subjects did just that.

Biden is going pretty far with executive orders during this covid-19 crisis. He mandated last week that all federal employees and on-site contractors will have to be vaccinated against the coronavirus or be required to wear masks and undergo repeated testing. This order that will affect millions of workers and is designed to be a model for other employers.

Next, he asked the Pentagon to look at adding the COVID-19 vaccine to the military’s mandatory shots. That idea isn’t going over too well. A lot of the military don’t want to get vaccinated. They think the vaccine is unsafe and untested. But in the end, Biden will probably get what he wants.

Is Biden a modern Charlemagne?

August 4, 2021August 4, 2021

TV COMMERICALS HAVE HIT A NEW LOW

You may find this hard to believe, but television commercials used to be entertaining. I’m old enough to remember the sexy, sultry Julie London singing the Marlboro song. That was when smoking was considered glamorous, not dangerous. But there were other great commercials. Better Buy Buick. The Pillsbury Doughboy. Even the soap ads were fun to watch. But now, the network news hours are filled with depressing pharmaceutical commercials that scare you to death. First, you’re afraid you may have whatever disease they’re talking about. Next, you’re terrified when they list possible side effects. The dire things that may happen if your doctor prescribes the drug you saw on television. It’s gotten even worse. TV commercials have hit a new low with acne medication ads. Does anyone really want to watch people squeezing their puss-filled zits, before or after you’re having dinner?

TV commercials have hit a new low. They used to be fun, but now they're all about disease and death. — Remember the Pillsbury Doughboy? He was fun to watch. But now, TV commercials have hit a new low; they’re all about disease and zits..

Honestly, I don’t know what product is being advertised in these commercials. It may be some salve or a pill you take for acne. All I know is that I’m calmly watching the news, and suddenly, I’m seeing not just one, but three or four people squeezing their disgusting pimples right before our very eyes. Unfortunately, it must pay off, because they keep running the ads over and over and over again.

If that’s not bad enough, just wait. The next commercial shows a horribly disfigured woman who has undergone treatment for lung cancer. If it makes someone quit smoking, I guess it’s worth it to show these macabre scenes. But for those of us who quit smoking years ago, it’s a downer. Something you really don’t care to see after all the depressing news about people getting sick and dying from Covid-19 virus.

So here’s what happens with me and lots of other people. The moment I see liquid being squeezed from a zit, I get up and walk away. My husband can watch the rest of the news if he wants to, but I’m just trying to get over the nausea backing up in my throat.

TV commercials have hit a new low. What’s next? Will we soon be watching people poop?

August 2, 2021August 2, 2021

HOW TO RESCUE & RESTORE FRESH FRUIT

It’s watermelon season. Who can resist the lure of a seedless, green striped melon, straight from the farm? They’re so heavy, you can barely lug them into the house from the car. And when you crack them open, they’re that deep pink color that tells you they’re going to be delicious. The problem is, they’re way too big for a one or two person household. Sometimes, we find a friend or relative who can use the other half, but often they have one of their own, or they’re allergic. After a few days, the melon gets mushy. But wait. Cut it into chunks, put on a tray in the freezer, and pop the frozen cubes into a plastic bag. They make yummy additions to any smoothie. And, you can use them as ice cubes in a cold drink. That’s how to rescue and restore fresh fruit.

Another fruit that’s apt to shrivel is red grapes. You have to buy them by the bagful. They last quite awhile, but often they start to shrink before you’ve been able to consume all of them. Don’t throw them in the garbage can. Pluck each grape from the vine, and freeze them on a tray, just like you did the watermelon. When you blend your next fruit smoothie, you may find it a bit sour. Not to worry! Five or six frozen grapes will sweeten it up.

Bananas are a fruit with a too-short shelf life. They’re a good source of potassium. Many heart patients are advised slice at least half a banana over their morning cereal. Trouble is, bananas ripen very fast. Then, they get brown and mushy. We used to throw away a lot of old bananas, but no more. They say you shouldn’t refrigerate bananas, but actually, you can.–if you wait until after they’ve ripened. If they’re still green, they won’t ripen in the frig. But once they’ve turned ripe, they will last a few extra days in the frig, resulting in far fewer wasted bananas. And they, too, can be sliced and frozen for smoothies.

Pineapples are often on sale. When you get them home and cut open, you’ll encounter various degrees of ripeness. They may be a bit “green”, but more often, they’re on the verge of being over ripe—turning deep yellow in places. We love fresh pineapple, but it starts to turn after a few days. Once again, rescue the aging pineapple. Cut the ripening fruit into chunks and freeze them. They give your smoothies a delicious tang and sweetness.

Now, you’re in the swing of things. Freezing fresh fruit that’s begun to over ripen is great way to reduce waste. And in these inflationary times, it’s also a smart way to save money.