My first fried green tomatoes...

My daughter Carol gave me some beautiful Brandywine tomatoes that were still green so I decided to try making some fried green tomatoes. Now I had never tasted these so I was taking the word of the southerners I know that they were a real treat. The green tomatoes were so pretty I had to take a photo. I found a highly rated recipe on the web and started cooking. (or should I say frying?) Fried foods are not seen too often at our house so you can believe me when I tell you, I went through a roll of paper towels, draining and blotting these babies off. Truth be told, they were delish and we totally enjoyed them. The other photos show the tomatoes after frying and some of my tomatoes I have canned. Note to self: plant fewer cherry tomatoes next year. Thanks for checking in at my blog. I will have some cards next post.

If you would like to try this and have some green tomatoes, here is the recipe I used .

Ingredients

• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, divided
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 3 medium-size green tomatoes, cut into 1/3-inch slices
• Vegetable oil
• Salt to taste

Preparation

• Combine egg and buttermilk; set aside.
• Combine 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, cornmeal, 1 teaspoon salt, and pepper in a shallow bowl or pan.
• Dredge tomato slices in remaining 1/4 cup flour; dip in egg mixture, and dredge in cornmeal mixture.
• Pour oil to a depth of 1/4 to 1/2 inch in a large cast-iron skillet; heat to 375°. Drop tomatoes, in batches, into hot oil, and cook 2 minutes on each side or until golden. Drain on paper towels or a rack. Sprinkle hot tomatoes with salt.

3 Cards from my last workshop...

Last weekend I had a workshop focusing on sponging and reverse masking. We made three clean and simple cards using those techniques. We all had such a good time making these, I will definitely do another workshop using sponging.
First is a simple birthday card. Sorry about the glare on the black cardstock. Black does not photograph well. I always seem to get a glare. I used painter's tape to mask off the edges of the sponged area. Make sure you get some of the "sticky" off the tape first by putting it on your clothing or an old tee.

All from Stampin' Up! Cardstock: Basic Black, Very Vanilla. Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes, Petite Pairs. Ink: So Saffron, Cajun Craze and Basic Black. Ribbon Black and White checked Gingham (Ret).

 Next a super-simple thinking of you card. You could use different colors of ink to suit your taste instead of the pinks. I think this would work really well in the sunset colors. Painter's tape used again.

Supplies all from Stampin' Up! Cardstock: Whisper White and Certainly Celery. Stamps:  Autumn Days and  Three Little Words. Ink: Perfect Pink Pirouette, Pretty In Pink and Rich Razzleberry. Basic Rhinestones accents.

 This last one is a sympathy card. I think it is very serene and calming. I used torn paper to do the masking for the hills. Another clean and simple card.

Supplies all from Stampin' Up! Cardstock: Whisper White and Wisteria Wonder. Stamps:  Just Believe and Thoughts and Prayers. Ink: Perfect Plum and Elegant Eggplant. Basic Pearls accents.

Monster 'maters....

The garden has turned into a jungle! I can hardly turn around in there.

The cherry tomatoes especially have gone wild. Note to self: next year, only plant one cherry tomato. It is not the size of the tomatoes that makes them monsters but the vines have taken over three trellises. The good part of dealing with the jungle. Maters, beans and carrots. Yum!