Tomatoes, Tomatoes, Tomatoes!

Tomorrow is my first Monday of retirement.  What shall I do...what shall I do?  Well, first of all, that huge pile of laundry needing to be sorted, washed and dried is calling my name.  The only difference between being a "retired" homemaker and a "gainfully employed" homemaker is being able to do housework during the day instead of at night, and not earning a paycheck for it--either way.

Our raised-bed garden is producing lots of tomatoes now, so I think I'll soon try out the water-bath canner I purchased at a garage sale last month.  I can't eat the tomatoes fast enough and hubby isn't a big fan of tomatoes.  It's too bad that the tomatoes all come at once.  When winter comes around, I am going to be longing for a fresh homegrown tomato.

With the abundance of tomatoes, I made some pico de gallo yesterday.  I love it so much, I think I could slurp it all down, and then lick the bowl.  That wouldn't be very lady-like would it?  But if no one is looking...

No recipe used; I just rough chopped four large tomatoes, squeezed out the excess seeds and juice, added about 3/4 cup of chopped Vidalia onion, two minced jalapeno peppers with seeds & membrane removed (I'm not sure why, but it still isn't spicy), added chopped cilantro and coarse sea salt to taste, and finally added a few squeezes of fresh lime juice.  July in the South is really too hot for growing cilantro, but I was able to get enough leaves for about a teaspoon chopped.  It was enough to flavor the pico, but not as much as I would have preferred.  A word of caution, don't use two jalapenos without taste-testing after adding the first one.  My friend's Mom who has gardened for years taught me that the heat is in the seeds and the white membrane on the inside.  If you like your pico or salsa hot, you might throw in some of the seeds; if spicy is not your thing, don't add the seeds.  Don't make the mistake of rubbing your eyes after handling hot peppers...a definite no-no!

Copyright2011 Charlotte Laney