Finally, Tomatoes

Better late than never. My tomatoes were so slow in growing this year, I thought I'd never have more than one tomato at a time. Finally, here we are in the middle of July, and I have tomatoes galore. So what should you do with all those ripe tomatoes? I have two recipes to help you out, one using ripe tomatoes, the other using firm green tomatoes. I hope you like them.

Golden Gazpacho Soup

• 2 lbs. golden tomato cored and quartered


• 1 small yellow onion, diced


• 1 medium yellow squash, halved lengthwise and thickly sliced


• 1 garlic cloved, minced


• 1 yellow pepper, cored and seeded, and cut in chunks


• 1/2 c. carrot juice


• 3 T. sherry wine vinegar


• 2 T. olive oil


• coarse salt


• 1 avocado, diced


• 1 small red heirloom tomato

Place all ingredients in a blender, except the last two, and blend until desired consistency is reached. Some like a smooth soup, I prefer a little texture, so I tend to keep in chunky. Refrigerate for at least two hours, garnish with avocado slices and red tomatoes.

Fried Green Tomatoes

• 3 medium firm green tomatoes, cut in 1/2 inch slices and sprinkled with salt


• 1/2 c. all purpose flour


• 1/4 c. milk


• 2 beaten eggs


• 2/3 c. dry bread crumbs


• 1/2 c. olive oil for frying


• salt and pepper

Allow salted tomato slices to sit for fifteen minutes, then dip in flour, then egg, then bread crumbs. Fry in skillet with olive oil for 4-6 minutes. Salt and enjoy.