ChefDawn

Heirloom Tomatoes Are The Best

My tomato plants have been planted for six weeks.  I have a few in the ground, several in pots and six in Topsy Turvy Planters (inverted planters that hang).  As those tiny yellow flowers bloom, my mouth is watering for my two favorite light summer dinners:

1.  Bread Salad

2.  Grilled Flat Bread Salad

Both of these recipes feature my fruit salad of tomatoes with either toasted french bread of a flat bread dough that I cook on the grill.   

Some of those delightful yellow flowers have turned into small green beads ... and now marbles.  I can not wait to start harvesting.

For those of you who have never heard or tried an heirloom tomato, you might not have ever actually tasted what a REAL tomato tastes like.  The tomatoes that most of us find in our local super markets are tastless and meally.  Heirlooms are grown from seeds ... the seeds of which come from long lines of tomatoes going back decades or even a century.  The product is delicious tasting fruit in countless colors, shapes and sizes. 

I can't wait to teach you how to make these two delicious salads. 

Yummy Malted Milk Cookies

I got this recipe out of a magazine and it won 1st prize by someone named Teresa Wargo of Pulaski WI.  I can't for the life of me figure out what magazine but these cookies are like candy.  They are super sweet and chewy.

You need:

1 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup firmed packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

2 tablespoons instant hot chocolate (or I use the instant coffee mixes)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups crushed malted milk balls

Preheat the oven to 375.  Spray cookie sheets or use silpat mats.  Cream butter and sugars together and then add egg and vanilla.  Combine until mixed.  In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, hot chocolate mix, baking soda and salt.  Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture.  Add malted milk balls and stir well.  Shape dough into 1 1/2 inch balls and place 2-inches apart on prepared baking sheet.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until firm to the touch.  DO NOT over cook.  Cool for 5 minutes and then trasnfer to a wire rack to cool completely.    ENJOY!

Next Series In The Works!! NEED YOUR HELP

Good evening everyone!  First of all, if you want to get information about my next series, please sign up on the right of my site where it says "Join The Fun".  ----->

Next --  I NEED YOUR HELP!!!!!

I have so many ideas for my next series but I want to meet YOUR needs.  So - simply reply or respond to this post with your ideas.  The series will be four weeks, about one hour per week.  Do you want to see a menu around a certain item (avocado menu, oranges menu, shrimp menu, vegetarian menu) or maybe around a certain type of food (Mexican, Italian, Asian, Vegan) or maybe a category (pie, soups, casseroles) or maybe a style of cooking (bbq, braising, crock pot).  ANYTHING that you love to do and want to learn more or everything that you have always wanted to learn but didn't know how.  BRING ON THE IDEAS!!!!!

I'm excited and anxious - I CAN'T WAIT!!!