Green Tomato Cake

Green Tomato Cake

Ingredients

4 cups chopped green tomatoes

1 tablespoon salt

1/2 cup butter

2 cups white sugar

2 eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch baking pan.

Directions

1. Place chopped tomatoes in a bowl and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon salt. Let stand 10 minutes. Place in       a colander, rinse with cold water and drain.

It produces a lot of liquid.

2.  Place chopped, salted and drained tomatoes into a food processor and process until it's in tiny bits

I placed all this into a smaller colander and drained off the remainder of the liquid.  It produced even more than when I salted them. (Don't salt again)

3. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat until creamy.

Butter

Butter and Sugar

Butter, Sugar & Eggs

4. Sift together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, soda and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Add raisins and nuts to dry mixture; add dry ingredients to creamed mixture. Dough will be very stiff. Mix well.

5. Add drained tomatoes and mix well. Pour into the prepared 9 x 13 inch pan.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean.

Sorry I didn't get a picture before people started cutting into it...it was just that good!

I was going to frost this with a cream cheese icing, but I tasted it and decided it could stand alone.  I might add the icing next time, by the end of making it I was pretty tired and I had to work later, and that played a big part in not icing.  I forgot to put in the nuts I was going to use pecans because I am allergic to walnuts. The original recipe calls for 2 cups chopped tomatoes, I went an extra step and finely processed them.  It wasn't until I was processing the last cup that I realized 2 cups of processed tomatoes equals 4 cups of chopped tomatoes.  Yep you guessed it, I had to double the recipe. It turned out wonderful because I was able to have a cake for my family and one for work.  Both cakes were gone in the morning!  It was super fun to have the people at work try and guess what the "secret" ingredient was. I am thankful I took the extra step and put them in the food processor. I think that the chopped pieces would have been too big and the tiny ones gave the cake just the right amount of texture and helped make it SUPER MOIST!  I love this cake!  It's definitely one I will keep using again and again. Towards the end of the summer my garden is almost dead, but I have TONS of big green tomatoes.  I love the ripe red ones, but it's nice to have a little variety to spice things up.

I found this at allrecipies

Typing into my heart

I love Pottery Barn.  I mean LOVE IT!  As you know I have begun a life of thrifty shopping and saving money.  Pottery Barn does not condone my lifestyle.  So as I was stalking looking at some awesome blogs I came across this beauty from Holy Craft.  I knew in that instant I had to make it.  So I began the simple steps.  I had the font on my computer already so I typed it up and printed it off on card stock.  I the size I chose was 300, I know it sounds huge, but I found it to be perfect for the size of the squares.

I then used the most amazing thing known to the craft world...the Martha Stewart Circle Cutter. Yes it is a piece of crap and yes I have had to replace it twice, but believe me it has made cutting out these circles a snap.  They are round (a feat that wouldn't be accomplished if I free styled it) It goes all the way up to 5 1/2" circles.  Pretty amazing for my circular needs. I got at Wal-Mart on clearance for $11.00.  I am thinking that the overall quality has knocked it down to $7.00 in less than a week.  Still a good buy until I can find a better model.

Roughly 20 minutes later I was left with these treasures.  I took a black sharpie and colored in any white lines that were not supposed to be there and colored the sides so they are all black...I know, I know I obsess. I managed to cut out all but 10 to my standards.  That just means I have to print and cut again.  Pretty dang easy.

Now to my board.  My father is a woodcrafter/whatever and he has tons of wood in either workshop.  We managed to find a 24X25 piece of plywood that was PERFECT. It needed to be trimmed one inch.  You know the old motto measure twice, cut once...it wasn't used with that piece.  Because he is amazing he picked up a piece and cut it to the perfect 24X24 square.  He also scored the entire board so I am left with perfect 4x4 squares.  Please see the picture below... I know I have mind blowing math skills and I may have lost you.

I have never stained anything in my life...well OK, mustard gets me every time, but I am new to the wood stain.  Let me tell you it's not something you want to rush into. I found out a bit late that it is best added with a gentle hand.  There are parts that don't have that brushed on blended look.  Thank the Heavens for second coats. After I let the stain dry I took a little Modge-Podge and went to town!  I ended up framing it out with an old piece of wood I had laying around.  I think it gives it a more finished look. I pretty much LOVE THIS!

When I finish my buffet I will show you what this bad boy looks like in it's natural habitat, but for now this will have to do.

Oh tomato I'm gonna miss you most of all....

I recently found out I am allergic to tomatoes. IT ROYALLY SUCKS!  When I eat a fresh tomato face breaks out into the really pretty itchy rash and my mouth gets little blisters and feels like it's on fire.  Sadly I had a few tomatoes this weekend before the side effects really kicked in and I am again starting a steroid dose pack....lovely.  In the garden I have about 10 different tomato plants and they give juicy red jewels everyday!  LOTS of them!

There were probably about 20 more from Sunday's harvest. I love how they are on the vine. For the first time this year we planted heirloom tomatoes.  They are big, juicy, beautiful, striped treasures. Slice them up, sprinkle a little kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper and you have an AMAZING side dish for your summer dinner. 

Doesn't the plate just sing!  I was able to eat about half of this little beauty before I had to stop.  Believe me there was not a shortage of takers to finish it.

I think my favorite tomato dish is a caprese salad.  Oh the flavors of soft mozzarella, fresh basil and a sweet tomato drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. If you sprinkle this with a little kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper and I swear you will think you are in Heaven!  Ugh! I hate being allergic to everything!

There is also a pizza that is pretty dang close a caprese salad....the margherita pizza.  It's gooey and pretty perfect.

I really don't have it all bad, I am going to see an allergy specialist and hopefully she will cure me so next year I can partake in the tomatoey goodness that is usually my summer.

BLT Pizza

The garden is in full swing and pumping out tomatoes by the bowl full.  I thought it was a perfect night to make the house favorite BLT PIZZA.  It is AMAZING, and simple and did I mention amazing...

For the pizza...you can start a few ways.  You can either  A.) make your own pizza crust, B.) buy pizza dough and bake it yourself, or C.) buy prepared and precooked thin crust.  I usually make my own dough, but it was after all the Sabbath a day of rest, so I opted for C.  It was super simple and Walmart had them on sale for $2.00.  This pizza doesn't have a sauce, so I melted some butter and put a little garlic in it.  I then brushed the crust generously and sprinkled it with dried parsley flakes.  I covered it in about a cup of shredded mozzarella and popped it in the oven on 425.  I started it out by having it on baking stone and when the cheese was almost melted I put the crust directly on the oven shelves.  That allowed the crust to crisp up a bit. When the cheese was melted and almost brown, I pulled it out and let it cool for a couple of minutes.  I topped it with bacon that I had cooked to an extra crispy texture.

After the bacon I topped it with sliced tomatoes fresh from the garden.

I then topped it with a mixture of chopped iceberg lettuce and the tangy zip of miracle whip.  I put the lettuce in a bowl topped it with MW and then used the tongs I cooked the bacon with to toss.  Once the lettuce is nicely covered in MW, top it on top the pizza and serve.

The first time I served this everyone was a bit skeptic, but one taste and everyone was hooked!  I think it works so well because you get the temperature contrast of the cold lettuce and hot pizza.  It just has the best taste! I adapted the recipe from the California Pizza Kitchen BLT Pizza.  You see there is not a CPK in the great state of OK and I had to get my fix. A girls gotta eat right?

We also had a Margherita pizza with tomatoes and basil from our garden.  I used the same crust and the same cooking technique only I topped it with a light pizza sauce, fresh basil, mozzarella, and sliced tomatoes.  It was so good!  I was also able to eat this one because the tomatoes were cooked.

Dinner was a hit and it was pretty cheap and super fresh!

UPDATE ON OSCAR

I decided to paint him a nice blue color, but the SECOND I put the paint on him he started to crackle! There was no way I could fix/hide it, so I had to strip him down to the bares and start over again.  I don't know why, but I love this little guy and I can't fathom throwing him out when I KNOW there is a place in my home for sweet Oscar. 

He looks pretty rough huh.  Oh I should also mention that paint stripper is TOXIC and will give you chemical burns....I am still healing.

The Force is strong with that one...

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away lived an interior decorator. He went about the universe creating furniture that was both stylish and functional. The force is strong with him and as his Jedi Master would say, "Creative is he."


Behold Jedi Steve's creation....

In the picture below you will notice how he documents the age old battle between good and evil.

Seriously this is AMAZING! I was at Habitat for Humanity and I found this jewel. The writing is GLOW IN THE DARK..I am in awe.  Come on even Jedi's get creative right?