Fried Green Tomatoes

Ummmmm... I love fried green tomatoes. To me the most important thing is to find green tomatoes at the proper degree of ripeness. If the tomato is to green it will be hard and without flavor, if it's not green enough, it will be too soft and smushy. Yuck. I choose the ones that are firm with a blush of red. My grandmother made them with either a flour or cornmeal batter, but I don't like a batter on them so I cut the tomatoes and then dip them in water and toss them into a bag that I've mixed flour, salt and pepper in. If you like a batter then just mix your flour or cornmeal with water or milk and add one or two eggs. Mix well and add more milk or water as needed to get your batter to the consistency you like. Then dip the tomato slices in the batter and fry in very hot grease until they float.
Fried Green Tomatoes

4 medium green tomatoes
flour
salt and pepper to taste
canola, crisco or vegetable oil ( I like the way crisco fries anything)
Paper grocery bags or paper towels on grate

In a large frying pan, add enough oil of choice for the tomatoes to float (1 -3 inches)
bring oil to 350 to 375 (if you don't have a thermometer, the best way to tell if oil is hot enough to fry in, drop a dash of batter or flour into oil and it should begin to furiously fry and move around)
While oil is heating, slice tomatoes and dip in water then add to mixed flour bag or dip in batter.
When oil is at frying temp, gently add each sliced tomato in a single layer to the pan.
Tomatoes should fry quickly and will start to float when they are done. If you cut the slices too thick you may need to turn them once.
Remove tomatoes and add more to oil until all are cooked.
You may need to turn oil down if it begins to smoke during this process.

My preference in a pan is always a cast iron skillet for frying, but I can't use it on my glasstop stove, so my next preference is to use a deep fryer.
Do not leave unattended. Always keep salt, baking soda or a fire extinguisher close by when you are frying. You can also place the lid of the frying pan on the pan if a grease fire starts, then move (with protection) the closed pan off of the eye and turn the eye off. DO NOT try to extinguish with water.

Chicken Soup

There are hundreds of ways to make any soup and none of them are right or wrong. My grandmother made soups out of whatever was leftover in the fridge and as long as you have a good broth with a little bit of meat or oil (otherwise known as grease) for flavoring you can't go wrong. I don't make soup often but when I do this is the most consistent chicken soup concoction.

Chicken Soup

1 qt chicken broth (broil whole chicken or chicken parts, onion, bell pepper, ground black pepper, celery and drain broth or buy low sodium chicken broth)
6 stalks diced Celery
2 medium sliced Carrots (if desired)
diced chicken
Parsley to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
Onion if desired
olive oil
cooked rice or noodles if desired

Place any uncooked vegetables in oiled frying pan and cook until tender
Bring broth to a boil in a large stock pot
Add vegetables, chicken, seasonings and rice/noodles
Simmer for approx 30 + minutes for flavors to blend

Pear Salad

There are dozens of versions of this, but this is our favorite. It's simple and quick which always makes me happy :)

Pear Salad

Canned sliced pears
Kraft Mayo
Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Maraschino Cherries

Open can/cans and drain pears
Place pears around serving plate
Spoon mayo (as much or as little as desired) into center of pears
Sprinkle desired amount of cheese on top of each pear
Place cherry (if desired) into center of each pear

Pepper Steak

Pepper steak was introduced to my family by David's mother (Mimi) and her style of cooking was the exact opposite of mine and my grandmothers. She only cooked with a recipe and I know that her recipe is somewhere to be found. My version of her recipe isn't as "asian" as her's was... I'm not certain what my version is missing from hers, but my family enjoyed both. Here is my version of Pepper Steak (if I find hers... I'll post it)

Pepper Steak

4 lbs cubed sirloin steak (a good rule for any meat dish is 1/2 to 3/4 lb of uncooked meat per person)
4 or more sliced bell peppers (more or less to taste)
Small amount of olive oil
Worcestershire sauce
3/4 cup + Soy Sauce
Cajun seasoning to taste (I use Tony Chachere's or you can make your own with a mix of ground cayenne pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, ground basil, ground thyme, ground black pepper, salt, paprika)
48 oz of canned diced tomatoes or fresh diced tomatoes

Cooked rice as desired (approx 1 cup per person)

In a large frying pan or sauce pan:
Simmer tomatoes, soy sauce and cajun seasoning
Let simmer until sauce begins to thicken
Once sauce is beginning to thicken.....
In another large frying pan:
Medium heat
Add small amount of olive oil
Add sliced peppers and cook to desired tenderness (short cook time crunchy, longer cook time softer)
Add peppers to sauce
then in same frying pan add more olive oil
Add cubed sirloin
Generously sprinkle meat with Worcestershire sauce and cajun seasoning
Cook to desired done-ness, stirring often (rare to medium rare won't take long ... just a few minutes)
Pour sauce and peppers over beef and serve over rice

Vegetable Soup

Okay...2010 was the craziest year I've ever experienced and my idea of trying to figure out family recipes and adding recipes of friends got lost in the chaos. But, things have settled down somewhat, so, so I'm going to try and do better. My new idea is to blog these recipes immediately after I cook (you know what they say about good intentions!) and tonight was the perfect night for vegetable soup, so......

Vegetable Soup

Small amount of olive oil
1 qt of beef broth
1 lb of frozen mixed vegetables
1 small pack of frozen sliced okra (if desired)
2 48 oz cans of diced tomatoes (or fresh diced tomatoes)
4 stalks of cut celery
1 diced onion
1 lb of browned hamburger or diced sirloin
2 or more cups of tomato juice or tomato paste and water
Parsley, salt and pepper to taste

In a large stock pot, over medium heat, add a small amount of olive oil and cook onions and celery to until translucent (or close)
Add beef and brown
Add beef broth and tomatoes.... bring to a boil
Add frozen vegetables and seasoning
turn heat down to simmer and cook for an hour +