TBLTAs!!!!

These sandwiches are pretty much the reason we grow our own tomatoes. The recipe was featured in Cooking Light a few years ago and we've loved them ever since. Turkey-Bacon Lettuce Tomato and Avocado sandwiches (they also have thinly sliced purple onion). Matches made in heaven.

Day 4 of Tomato Week

Anyone else getting tired of tomatoes?!?! MAN, I know we're starting to....

Thursday night we had dinner at a friend's house - so no tomato entree then, but I gave another 10 tomatoes away that day!

Friday night I made Chunky Gazpacho with Sauteed Shrimp from the August edition of Cooking Light.

It was okay, a little bland. Maybe next time I'll try the recipe my Aunt Susie sent me (but I already had all the ingredients for this one!!)

Last night we went to the Cubs vs. Reds game in Cincinnati - and THE CUBS WON!!!! YAY!!!
Tonight we had a night off from tomatoes - I made turkey chili with cornbread muffins.

Tomorrow is the last night I have a tomato dish planned - but we still have over a dozen tomatoes to go!!

Tomato week day 3 wasn't too exciting. Not even picture-worthy, I'm afraid. I had about an hour between work and choir practice so we ate salmon-lobster pinwheels and salad. I used two tomatoes on our salad, that's all. :(

In worse news, the other eater of the tomato week food has a GIANT canker sore on his lip and is limiting his tomato intake - I'm still hoping to make chunky gazpacho with sauteed shrimp this week though, so I'll keep you posted.

Tomato Week: Day 2

Today I made Baked Eggs in Tomatoes - from the latest issue of Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine. That used two tomatoes. And then, because it seemed like we'd need a little more than just that for dinner, I made Black Bean Corn Salsa to go with it. That used three tomatoes. Plus I ate a tomato with my lunch and gave four to Bob when I saw him over the fence this morning!! 10 tomatoes down!!

So dinner was pretty easy - scoop out two tomatoes, put some corn in the bottom of each one, then whisk an egg and some chives, pour that in each tomato, sprinkle the top with parmesan, and bake at 350 for 50 minutes. They're REALLY hot when they come out - so I'd let them sit for 5 min or so before eating.

Scooped out tomatoes -- I used two of our Mr. Stripeys - they're our faves from what we've grown.

Out of the oven - oops! one tipped over! I bet it will still taste the same.

Mmm, the finished product. It tasted REALLY good. I pretty much ate my black bean corn salsa as a salad, but I'm sure Pete will eat his salsa with Tostitos when he gets home...which he hasn't yet...and I have to go to bed soon...

Back to life tomorrow - work at 8am, hopefully I'll be able to keep up with tomato week!

L.O.V.E.

I'm wearing this necklace today - with a teal tank top and khaki skirt (and some turquoise dangle earrings). I owe it all to Stephanie Ulmer, who, some five or so years ago, showed me I COULD be one of those girls who wears big jewerly!! --Thanks Steph!!

Tomato Week!

Hi there! We're back! Vacation was great - and I'll post about it and my birthday celebration as soon as I download some of our friends' images from our shared Picasa. In the meanwhile, almost ALL of our tomatoes ripened while we were gone. Aside from sharing them with our neighbors, giving some to our church's food program, and making salsa, pesto, and bruschetta, we STILL have a ton of tomatoes to eat. So today before I headed to the grocery store, I planned a week's worth of tomato-centered (or heavy on the tomato) dishes.


Today was day one: Margherita Pizza made with tomatoes AND basil from our garden. We make this all the time with jarred tomato sauce, but I thought we could try it with diced tomatoes instead. Usually Pete makes our pizza crust, but we tried out a mix today. It was okay. It seemed a little doughy to me, and not thin enough. But it only took 30min, so beggars can't be choosers.

We do a 2 minute pre-bake that I learned from my friend Joanne. Roll the dough out into the crust, and bake it for 2 min, then roll it back out popping any bubbles that may have formed. THEN add the toppings.

I cubed the mozzarella instead of slicing it because we had pizza at Cosi the other day and that's how they did it. And we don't put the basil on until the very end so it doesn't burn.

The finished product:


It was delicious! Stay tuned to see what we have tomorrow night :)

If you need me after today, I'll be here.

A long time ago (1980), in a galaxy far, far away (Wauconda, IL)....

PETER CARL CRAWFORD WAS BORN!!!

To celebrate Pete's big 3-0 yesterday we had a few people over for dinner and cake (and croquet and pinball) on Sunday. When Pete caught wind of the theme (I was, after all, frosting a Yoda cake in the kitchen and had given him a new T-shirt) he went down to the basement and brought up some key figures from his youth. I thought it was hilarious and definitely complimented the plates, napkins, and Darth Vader masks I had gotten at the party store.


I roasted two chickens on root-beer cans, recipe here, and we had that with roasted potatoes and broccoli slaw (with almonds and cranberries from the Fresh Market - yum!).

Perhaps the funniest part of the evening was Mike's stare-down session with baby Sylvia. Sylvia is a champion starer and I don't think Mike knew what he was getting himself into. (the girl never blinks!)

Once it had cooled down enough we were even able to be outside to harass the dogs!!

Yesterday, on Pete's ACTUAL birthday we went to Wallace Station for breakfast so Pete could get his Hell-a-Rito: Sausage, two eggs, guacamole, chipotle mayo, grilled onions, roasted red peppers, potato and hot sauce, stuffed in a jumbo tortilla and grilled. Then we stopped by the 1hp Horse to see it close-up. It's not located downtown so we haven't seen it on our previous jaunts for Horse Mania but had seen it in the paper a few times. It's really cool - I think Pete has a new favorite.

Back at home Pete opened a few more presents before he had to work for a few hours.

Our afternoon was pretty low-key except we had a 3:30 meeting with Wayne and Karen, our kitchen designers, and we signed the contract for our kitchen renovation!!! The dining room wall is coming down!! More on that in a later post.

To finish up the birth-day we went to an evening show of Inception. It was really good - but I'm not sure if I liked it or not. It scared me in some ways, and in other ways I felt like my brain didn't move fast enough to follow the story. I'm pretty sure Pete loved it. But he's way smarter than I am and doesn't get scared at weird stuff.

So that's how we celebrated the birth of my wonderful Red Head!! Love you Pete!! So glad you were born!!!

s'pose this post should've been last night...

oh well....

thank GAWD Ginnie called me last night to chat about our week-long class this week! She HAPPENED to mention the end-of-rotation packet/checklist that was due today and I was like, "check-a what?!?!" I managed to assemble all the things that we were required to turn in this morning before class started, but if she hadn't said anything it I seriously would have shown up with nothing and just looked like a moron.

-anyhoo-

WE HAD SUCH A GOOD WEEKEND!!

Friday night Pete picked me up from work and we drove straight to Cincinnati to meet Rachael and Sylvain at the Reds Stadium to watch the Reds play the braves, though Pete was cheering for the Cubs.

We spent the night at Rachael's mom's house (thanks Joyce!!) and after some FABU pancakes and Pete's 12-mile run (weirdo.) we headed to the Newport Aquarium with the little nugget!!

I'm not sure how much fun she actually had but we sure had a good time watching her watch everything. I think she liked the big glass tunnels best. We had lunch with Rachael and Sylvain and wee baby Sylvia before heading home for the afternoon. We wanted to say later but had to get home to our pups.

Saturday night we had dinner downtown at A la Lucie and then walked around Gratz Park to see more of the Horse Mania horses. Pete and I each found ones we liked.


We're hoping to see all of them before the World Equestrian Games in September!

Sunday I had an evidence-based practice project to finish to complete my rotation and that took from about 10am to 4pm, then we went to Matt and Jen's for a cookout for dinner. This week marks a special time in Pete's life - the last week of his 20s. He turns 30 on Monday the 9th, so I'm sure we'll have something to post about that soon.

And after that we'll be on our way to CHARLESTON!!! Yay for long-awaited vacations!!