Category Archives: tomatoes

Whole Food Plant-Based Recipes using tomatoes

White House Orders A Review of GMO Crop Rules

gmo cropsWho is in charge? Who really regulates genetically modified crops? In a bureaucratic sleight of hand the USDA spreads the responsibility for GM products throughout three agencies — the Agriculture Department, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration. These agencies are all bound by rules and regulations created in 1992!

In the 23 years since the regulations were written there has been an explosion of knowledge about genetic modification and a massive number of GM products introduced into the market. The science of DNA modification and advances in technology happen every month.  And yet, regulations that are supposed to protect citizens and consumers have remained the same. (more…)

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Gardening in New Orleans

cote gardenOur garden is growing – we have tomatoes, peppers, cucumber and melon plus a lot of herbs growing at breakneck speed. Something new is always popping up.

The funny thing about gardening is that once you figure it out in one place there is NO guarantee you will be successful (at first) in a different place.

Some of the tomatoes are being eaten by something – not cutworms, but something I have yet to identify. There are bugs and worms that I have never seen before! So far no aphids like the ones that drove me crazy in Prescott last year. Instead we have Assassin bugs (good), beetles (bad) and and other very strange insects like wasp moths. The insect identification book is getting heavy use.

The soil here is amazing; river bottom mud. Really sad to not be using it this year. Until we have it tested it is unwise to plant food. Katrina left a lot of chemicals in the ground, so until you have your own soil tested you can’t know if you have any contaminates like lead or mercury. And if there are contaminates we need to know what they are! For this year we have contented ourselves with grow beds.

The one thing we have planted in the ground was milkweed. Someone told Meggan it would attract Monarchs. She bought some and planted it. No Monarchs! We started to think that milkweed and Monarchs were an urban legend. And then. . .the Monarch’s appeared. We have quite a collection that fly around all day. They put on a real show! The Monarchs have been joined by Black Swallow Tail and a couple of other ones I can’t identify.

Here is a picture of the milkweed and a Monarch – just look for the circle; I know it’s hard to see but you will get the idea. They are so beautiful!

bf1cropped

Meg and I went to the nursery over the weekend and invested in $70 worth of butterfly and hummingbird attracting plants to create a “butterfly garden.” They are all planted neatly along the front fence.

So far – no butterflies and no hummingbirds. Either another urban legend or a lesson in patience. . . we’ll see.

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We Made It to New Orleans . . .

My head is still spinning – over the last two months we packed up our home in Prescott, drove ourselves and the three cats 1650 miles across company and have more or less moved into to our new home. What an incredible amount of experience crammed into a few weeks!

raw kitchenThe kitchen in our house was gutted . Once escrow closed  Meggan installed a utility sink in the kitchen. She says it is hard to clean and paint without water!

We got here and walked into an exquisitely painted but very bare kitchen – the only item in it was the lonely little utility sink.

We think that the kitchen is the most important room in the house so we started there; literally started from the ground up. We were told that there was a lovely long-leaf pine floor under the tile debris. Which is why David spent the first day we were here sanding of the glue and junk off the floor. When he was done we saw that there was indeed beautiful wood. Beautiful wood badly in need of repair and loving care.  Decided to delay immediate work and instead lay down cheap vinyl to protect the from any further damage. We will tackle this in the fall when it gets a little cooler!

Once we had a decision on the floor we moved in a fridge, a toaster oven, microwave and electric frying pan. Went out and got a gas grill and on the way home stopped at Farmer’s Market. While there we scored some corn, tomatoes, onions and greens.  Later that afternoon we had our first home cooked meal in a couple of weeks:  roasted corn on the cob along with grilled onions and tomatoes. I don’t think I have ever enjoyed a meal more!

camp kitchenWe were in business. Although I have to say that cooking with no counter space is a trick. David set up a rolling island, a couple of folding tables and put together a rolling storage rack. We gleefully refer to the process as camping in our own house. Very comfortable camping all things considered!

While we camped for the next couple of days, we feasted on a big salad made from fresh greens, tomatoes, carrots and cucumbers. Grilled and enjoyed eggplant, squash, tomatoes, carrots and potatoes. Even if we were camping it still felt downright luxurious to eat simple, home prepared fresh veggies.

At the end of the first week we had the most exciting day of all — the day we got a real gas stove and range!! I immediately made pasta sauce, started soaking black beans and dug out some rice.

The other exciting thing was the gift of a triple bowl 44 inch sink. Now all we need is something to put it on. That is next weeks project: find kitchen cabinets and the counter top to get installed asap.  Did I mention that in the meantime we are just happy to be eating real food again?

farmersOne of the wonderful things about New Orleans at this time of year are all the Farmer’s Markets. You can find ones on Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. We are taking full advantage!  Today we got 10 lbs of “seconds” tomatoes and a bunch of peppers and onions so tomorrow we make salsa!

Life should be calming down a bit in the next couple of weeks. I will finally get to start posting on a regular basis. I have missed writing more than I thought possible. So watch for new posts. Lots of nutrition news, garden updates, cooking tips and our other NOLA adventures.

And there, my friends, you have it – the NOLA adventure update! Stayed tuned!

Posted in Farmers Market, fresh veggies, garden, New Orleans, salsa, tomatoes, Whole Food Plant-Based nutrition | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Peanut Butter and . . .

Yesterday morning, very early, I burst out laughing while reading the New York Times. I couldn’t wait for David to get up so I could show him the article: Peanut Butter Takes On an Unlikely Best Friend. I suddenly felt so vindicated!

The article written by Dwight Gardner, Literary Critic for the NY Times, was 700+ words extolling the wonders of peanut butter and pickle sandwiches. My husband and kids have given me so much grief over the years about my love of PB&P sandwiches. They think that I have either very weird or no taste in food. And I suspect they think I am somewhat beyond weird. OK, I might be; but not for that reason! (more…)

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No Hassle Tomato Soup

tomatoe soupWe are starting to get a chill in the evening air. For me chill and soup always go together. My all time favorite soup is tomato; probably a link to my childhood.

Over the last couple of years, I have been on a mission to find good tomato soup. I checked dozens of labels and finally reached the conclusion that there is not a canned/packaged tomato soup that doesn’t contain sugar, preservatives or some other strange chemicals.

So, if I want good tomato soup I am going to have to make it myself. (more…)

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Adventures in Preservation

farmers marketOver the weekend we had an adventure in preserving food. Early Saturday morning we made a trip to Farmer’s Market to pick up our 50 pounds of tomatoes ($30), 25 pounds of apples ($15), an assortment of peppers ($9) and onions ($10). A lot of food for $64.00.

We got home around 8 am; surveyed the boxes and decided the only sensible thing to do was go crawl back in bed a take a nap. We had both been up since 4:00 am.

An hour later we stood in front of the boxes again. This time there was no putting it off. David began cleaning the tomatoes. I put on gloves and began deseeding peppers. (more…)

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Pumpkins, Cabbage and Tomatoes

S6300911No this is not a recipe! It is an homage to our Garden and to the change of season.

It really is fall. The days are shorter and cooler and the light has changed. We expect the first frost sometime between the middle of October to the middle of November. Between now and then it is about harvesting and preserving. (more…)

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August Garden Update

S6300838It’s still raining here in Northern Arizona. I’m really not complaining! I mention it because the rain has slowed down tomato and pepper ripening and growth of things like cucumbers and squash.  On the other hand, everything is green, green, green! This is the view from my kitchen window. The garden shown is our “front kitchen garden.” (more…)

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Gluten-Free Tabbouleh

gluten free tabboulehBecause Pasadena, CA (where I used to live) has a large Armenian population, there are several excellent Middle Eastern restaurants within a 5 mile radius.  I ate at a couple of them regularly. Since moving away from Pasadena, the things I have missed most (and been unable to find) are even passable falafel, tabbouleh, hummus, baba ghannouj and baklava.

The absence of good middle eastern cuisine forced me to learn how to make my own. Part of the learning process has been trying out healthier versions of these standards.  I have actually gotten pretty good at it, even if I do say so. I now make oven baked falafel, oil-free hummus and baba ghannouj and gluten-free tabbouleh. The only thing I haven’t bothered with is baklava for obvious reasons. (more…)

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A Rainy Week — Monsoon Season in Arizona

monsoon back yardWe live on a desert mountain. The excitement for this month comes in the form of almost 3 inches of rain.  For those of you who live in places like Oregon, that probably doesn’t sound too impressive.  To us desert dwellers, who have seen less than 2 inches of rain in the previous six months, it is a lot of water!

We had 5 straight days of rain starting last week and by Tuesday afternoon here is what our back yard looked like. I am just glad that everything planted in containers above ground. Any thing here would have surely washed away. (more…)

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