Happy ending for countless tomatoes--Mexican Tomato Soup

Tomatoes line my window ledge, my kitchen island, the shelves of my refrigerator. A banner tomato year . . . I’m seeking to find happy endings for all them.

I couldn’t have picked a better place for some of these tomatoes to land than Mexican Tomato Soup. To begin with, the recipe calls low-sodium tomato juice. No-brainer. Boil a bunch of these red jewels, season, and strain. Tomato juice at the ready (the exact tomato juice recipe is found in my cookbook, Way Back in the Country Garden). Then it asks for a couple of extra tomatoes, cored and halved and added to a chicken-broth-and-tomato-juice base. A couple extra tomatoes (how about a couple hundred extra ones?) are no problem.

Some spices, green onions, lime juice, a little boiling and simmering. Add some deboned chicken strips. Not many minutes later (just long enough for the chicken bits to cook), a tangy soup dish awaits. The recipe also calls for making your own tortilla chips out of leftover tortillas. A great way to use up some that hang around in the refrigerator. Chunks of cheese and avocado are hearty additions.

Hubby and I enjoyed this dish on a Saturday night. Since Saturday is approaching again, I commend this to your weekend.

Mexican Tomato Soup

6 (6-inch) corn tortillas

2 tablespoons canola oil, divided

2 medium tomatoes, cored and halved

1 onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves

1 (32-ounce) container reduced-sodium fat-free chicken broth

2 cups low-sodium tomato juice

1 bay leaf

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon ground coriander

1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper

1 1/2 pound skinned and boned chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch-wide strips

4 green onions (white part only), thinly sliced

1/2 cup fresh lime juice

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 cup crumbled fresh Mexican cheese

1 medium avocado, chopped

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush 1 side of tortillas with 1 tablespoon oil; cut tortillas in half. Stack tortilla halves and cut crosswise into 14-inch-wide strips. Arrange strips in a single layer of a lightly greased baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper. Bake 15 minutes or until golden. Stir halfway through. Cool. Meanwhile heat a nonstick skillet over high heat 2 minutes. Add tomato halves and cook (turn occasionally) 10 minutes, or until tomatoes are charred on all sides. (Tomatoes may stick.) Transfer to a food processor. Sauté onion in remaining 1 tablespoon hot oil in skillet over medium heat 3 to 5 minutes or until tender. Add garlic; sauté 2 minutes or until fragrant. Transfer onion mixture to food processor with tomatoes; process until smooth. Cook tomato mixture in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally, 5 minutes or until thickened. Stir in broth and tomato juice. Add bay leaf and next 3 ingredients; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, partially covered and stirring occasionally, 20 minutes. Add chicken; simmer, stirring occasionally, 5 to 7 minutes or until chicken is done. Discard bay leaf. Stir in green onions and next 2 ingredients. Season with salt (or salt substitute) and pepper. Divide Mexican cheese among 4 to 6 soup bowls; top with tortilla strips. Ladle soup into bowls. Top with avocado. Makes 4 to 6 servings. (Source: Southern Living July 2012)

Pie! Pie! Tomato Pie! So fresh, it could walk off the table.

With my vegetable bin now filled with tomatoes the size of grapefruit (thanks to my previously mentioned, roadside-stand haul), I was into my pile of tomato recipes big-time. I had dogeared one for Tomato Pie, featured in Southern Living’s August 2011 issue featuring summer favorites. I thought it looked absolutely mouth-watering. I also was intrigued by the idea of the Sour Cream Pastry crust that underlay it.

The recipe called for four tomatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices. I admit that in the interest of time, I didn’t peel mine. I don’t think I’ve peeled a tomato in years and wasn’t about to start now. (The most nutritious part of everything is the peel, right? At least that’s a mom-ism I remember from my childhood. Hubby says that a lot, too.)

Atop the tomato layer of the pie went a marvelous blend of mayo, green onions, fresh basil, and Parmesan cheese. I was a little worried about the sour-cream pastry, made with a combination of shortening and sour cream, being a little flimsy, but after the dough chilled for an hour, it rolled out into a very substantial, workable crust that I baked for 10-12 minutes before I piled on the filling.

I can’t say that I ever before sampled a tomato pie, even though it was conceptualized as an iconic Southern item (and my great-grandmother was a Mississippi transplant to Texas. How Southern can you get?). But this one was an amazing way to start. Fresh tomatoes, a new take on a pie crust, and an herb-y, cheesy topping. Like, like, like!

Tomato Pie

4 medium tomatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices

1/2 teaspoon salt (or salt substitute)

1/2 cup mayonnaise

3 green onions, chopped

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Parmesan cheese, divided

Sour Cream Pastry (below)

Sour Cream Pastry

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt (or salt substitute)

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup sour cream (I used fat-free)

Preheat oven to 350 degree. Prepare Sour Cream Pastry. Meanwhile, place tomatoes in a single layer on paper towels; sprinkle with salt. Let tomatoes stand 30 minutes. Pat dry with paper towels. Stir together next 3 ingredients and 3/4 cup of cheese. Roll Sour Cream Pastry into a 13-inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Fit into a 9-inch pie plate; fold edges under and crimp. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly brown. Remove from oven; sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup cheese over bottom of crust. Arrange tomato slices over cheese in crust; spread mayonnaise mixture over tomatoes. Bake at 350 degrees for 34 to 37 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before you serve. If desired garnish with basil leaves. Makes 6 servings.

Celebrating a great annual physical report with this healthy bean-and-spinach skillet meal

The results are in, and healthy eating won big! Residing in my in-box yesterday were the results of my bloodwork from my physical exam two days ago. My squeals of satisfaction could be heard all the way to downtown Dallas as I read that my triglycerides were down six points from last year, my bad cholesterol also was down six, and my good cholesterol was up eight (UP is good, in this case). All other results (including blood pressure and weight) were excellent throughout, the doctor reported in his email to me. Something truly to be thankful for, since in the gently aging, such as myself, those readings often go the opposite direction. HOORAY! I credit it all to (besides the Good Lord, of course) dietary changes. Maybe I should credit The Newfangled Country Gardener, since writing this blog keeps me honest about my food choices. Fruits, vegetables, fiber—tweaking the diet with a healthy eating plan—does deliver what it promises.

To celebrate I prepared a recipe I’ve been holding onto from HealthMonitor, the little magazine that our local hospital mails out to the community. (Recipes also can be found at www.HealthMonitor.com.) Like the previous night’s, it was another skillet meal; the contents were absolutely scrumptious; one serving amounted to only 327 calories. (HealthMonitor stated that it reprinted the recipe from the book, EatingWell 500-Calorie Dinners by Jessie Price, Nicci Micco, and the editors of EatingWell Magazine.) White beans, tomatoes, and spinach leaves poured in the health on top of the shelf-stable gnocchi (soft dumplings). A mixture of two cheese on top was the crowning touch to this good recipe.

Is bypassing the fast-food lines and taking time to put healthy food on the table worth it all? You betcha, when the Moment of Truth time arrives and the annual-physical report turns up good in the inbox!

Skillet Gnocchi with Spinach and White Beans

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil, divided

1 (16-ounce) package shelf-stable gnocchi

1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup water

6 cups spinach, chopped

1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes (or 2 1/2 cups chopped Roma tomatoes)

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

1 (15-ounce) can white beans, rinsed

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/2 cup part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, finely shredded

In a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, heat 1 tablespoon oil. Add gnocchi and cook, stirring often, until gnocchi is plumped and starting to brown, about 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to a bowl. Add the remaining teaspoon of oil and chopped onion to the pan; cook over medium heat, stirring, for 2 minutes. Stir in garlic and water. Cover and cook until the onion is soft, 4 to 6 minutes. Add spinach and cook, stirring, until spinach starts to wilt, about 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, beans, and pepper and bring to a simmer. Stir in the gnocchi and sprinkle with mozzarella and Parmesan. Cover and cook until the cheese is melted and the sauce is bubbling, about 3 minutes more. Makes 6 servings.

As power outages abound, good to have a recipe that's as tasty cold as it is warm

In these days of rolling blackouts that have visited our Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex alongside the winter storm, having access to food that tastes as good cold as it does warm has been a daily preoccupation.

Believe it or not, this Greek Pizza falls into that category. Prepared earlier in the week before we had to wonder whether any task we began by using an electrical device could be completed before the power shut down, this pizza is absolutely terrific when served piping hot from the oven. But because its toppings are tomatoes, onions, olives, and cheese—the kinds of ingredients you’d find in a salad—it's just as tasty served fresh from the fridge. Believe me, we kept an eye on that fact as we sat in wait for the power outages about which we'd been warned through email and on cellphones by Garland's new Red Alert system.

Because the recipe (which, even though it was "Greek", hailed from the Chickasaw Nutrition Services) called for making a yeast-bread crust that had to rise, I initially had pause about trying this recipe. However, the rising process required only 20 minutes without any kneading, which made it as simple as (pizza) pie. The fuss-free dough turned out not to be sticky at all and thus rolled out and transferred readily to the pan.

One word of warning, however: be sure you AMPLY spray with cooking spray the pan you use. Keeping the crust from sticking to the cookie sheet was a challenge. Getting the crust un-adhered for serving turned out to be the biggest task of this recipe.

Greek Pizza ended up being an amazing entree that lasted the two of us through several meals, which, thankfully, saw our power remaining on each time we sat down to dinner. But you better believe we had our matches and lighters ready in case dinner had to be completed by candlelight.

Greek Pizza

1 package active dry yeast

1 teaspoon sugar (or sugar substitute)

1 cup water, warm

1 1/4 cup flour, whole wheat

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt (or salt substitute)

2 tablespoons olive oil

cooking spray

3 cups spinach leaves

1 cup tomato, seeded, chopped

3/4 cup red onion, sliced

1/4 cup black olives, sliced (from 2.25 ounce can, drained)

4 ounces Feta cheese, reduced fat

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a medium bowl dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand for 10 minutes. Stir in flours, salt, and oil. Beat until smooth. Let stand for 5 minutes. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Pat and roll it into a rectangle. Generously spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Transfer crust to the baking sheet. Spread spinach, tomatoes, onion, olives, and Feta cheese on pizza crust. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned. When cooled, spray lightly with olive oil. Makes 12 servings.

Bring on the Turkey Chili as a repository for wonderful fall tomatoes from the vines

Fall tomato time in the garden; terrific to see things growing again in our garden spot after the late-summer drought and dearth of veggies.

Fall also warrants a steaming, flavorful bowl of chili. A tucked-away recipe on a Sam's Club flyer prompted me on both accounts--to scratch my "itch" for a chili fix and to use up some of the incoming tomatoes from the vines.

This Turkey Chili recipe is a jewel because its cooking time is only 20 minutes, compared to some that cook all day. Frankly I couldn't tell one bit of difference between this speedy one and the kind that calls for such longsuffering in the kitchen. We topped our quick-to-fix Turkey Chili with a tablespoonful of nonfat sour cream and 2-percent milk, cheddar cheese, and chives.

After a dinnertime bowl of this bubbling perfection, I stepped out on the deck and breathed in the fall evening air that had a slight nip to it. Had I been transported to heaven? Surely so.

Turkey Chili

2 pounds ground turkey, browned with 1 large onion, chopped

2 1/2 to 3 cups fresh tomatoes, diced (or 2 14-ounce cans no-salt-added diced tomatoes, undrained)

2 cans light red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

2 tablespoons chili powder

2 tablespoons cumin

Place a large pot over medium-high heat. Brown turkey meat and chopped onion and drain. Return turkey to pot and stir in all other ingredients. Simmer on medium-low heat for about 20 minutes. Stir often. Makes 4 servings.

This "odd-couple" pairing of tomato and watermelon draws superlatives

As fall as apples and pumpkins and acorn squash and . . . watermelon?

Huge, juicy, ripe watermelons hardly seem as though they are similies for autumn. Who ever saw a watermelon used in a Thanksgiving cornucopia?

Yet that's exactly what our fall garden is producing right now. About a month ago Hubby examined some vines twining around the spent tomato bushes he was about to hack out to make room for his fall plantings. Hiding underneath the curls and twists were some baby watermelons--possibly 10 or 11 of them. At this late date? We'd never grown watermelons before. Planted them, sure, but to no avail.

Hubby remarked that if these happened to produce, which he doubted would happen, this would represent the first time since his childhood that he'd been able to grow watermelons.

Then when the melons did begin to burgeon, more skepticism reigned. Would they actually ever ripen? Would they rot out first? Tenderly, under each of the promising ones, he installed some pieces of wood to keep the moisture away. Even during our recent monsoons the melons held. At least four of them approached the picking stage. But would they be any good? Hubby wondered as the moment of truth arrived.

Cameras flashed at the proud instant in which he actually toted his (well, his and God's) handiwork, a sizable, green-striped melon, into the kitchen and plunked the knife down into it to split it apart. Still doubtful it would taste worth anything, Hubby took the first exploratory bite. A smile of pride slowly crept over every molecule in his face.

"It is good," he pronounced with wonder in his voice. He then kept sampling and sampling.

For this magic moment I had saved just the perfect recipe. The August 2010 issue of Prevention magazine featured Tomato Watermelon Salad. This "Odd Couple" pairing--tomatoes and watermelon, along with fresh mint and pistachios--held a huge fascination for me since I first read it. Tomatoes and watermelon? Oh, well, we're always being reminded that the tomato indeed is a fruit. Truthfully, once this salad was prepared and tossed, one hardly could tell one red bite from another.

"I've said it before, but I mean it this time," Hubby pontificated as he savored. "This is absolutely the best salad I've ever tasted." (I think its containing his home-grown watermelon had something to do with his effusiveness.)

Still about five promising melons remain in the garden. At this rate we'll still be dining on them as we sing "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town."

Tomato Watermelon Salad

4 cups coarsely chopped tomatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds)

2 cups coarsely chopped seedless watermelon

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

1/2 teaspoon alt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint

1/4 cup chopped pistachios

1 avocado, peeled, halved, seed removed, and sliced into 1/2-inch chunks (optional)

In a serving bowl combine chopped tomatoes and chopped watermelon. Toss with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and mint. Stir in avocado, if desired. Top with pistachios. Serves 4.

Tomatoes on the fall vines aren't here yet, but store-bought ones make this recipe sing

From the large package of pork chops we bought at the store for yesterday's Pork and Lima Skillet recipe, we had some chops remaining--a good excuse for stirring up a recipe on my remaining summer "short-list" --only a few to go until I can check them all off. Then I can shelve in my "summer" recipe binder and replace it on the counter with my fall one. Apples, pumpkins, acorn squash--just around the bend!

But still in the "summer" category is this recipe for Skillet Pork Chops and Tomato Beans. The addition of fresh tomatoes (we're all out of our homegrown ones right now, but from my back porch I can see Hubby's fall tomato plants starting to look promising) plus generous helpings of onion and celery really make this recipe sing.

The original recipe called for canned pork and beans, but thinking of the sugar and sodium content of that ingredient was a turn-off. Instead I bought a can of cannellini beans (white navy beans) and rinsed them thoroughly to make them much more compliant with a sodium-reduced diet. Thank you, Splenda, for introducing a brown-sugar substitute product to make adding brown sugar less guilt-inducing. The slightly sweet taste that this added just made the recipe. We rarely eat pork chops, so to have these two skillet dishes (Pork and Lima Skillet and Skillet Pork Chops and Tomato Beans) two nights in a row was a refreshing switch for us from our usual chicken or fish, chicken or fish, chicken or fish, which can get boring.

The students are back in school, the fall decorations are out in the stores, Friday-night football is on the horizon. No question about where this year is headed. But for the last few days of August and the remaining summer recipe wish list, we'll enjoy you to the hilt.

Skillet Pork Chops and Tomato Beans

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 boneless pork chops, trimmed

3/4 cup each chopped onion and celery

1 (14-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed thoroughly

3 teaspoons packed brown sugar (I use brown-sugar substitute)

2 medium tomatoes, chopped

Heat olive oil in skillet over medium heat for 1 minute. Cook chops 10 minutes or until browned. Set aside. Into drippings in skillet add onion and celery and cook until tender. Add tomatoes, beans, and brown sugar. Heat to a boil. Return chops to pan. Cover and cook over low heat 5-10 minutes or until done. Serves 4.