An Abundance of Tomatoes

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tomato harvest

This tomato (and pepper) harvest lead to me getting my butt back into the kitchen and rediscovering what I love.

Although the garden is winding down, in the last 2 weeks we’ve seen huge harvests of peppers (hot and sweet), beefsteak, yellow pear, and heirloom tomatoes. Granted, most of the yellow pear tomatoes are green. We owe that harvest to a squirrel who decided to jump on the plant and shake it clean of fruit.

Despite the ongoing battle with the neighborhood fluffy-tailed rodents, I’m actually quite grateful. That squirrel helped me get back into the routine of cooking our food again. This past year we’ve spent an awful amount of time in restaurants. It was just easier (and less painful) than standing at the stove. Also, we were “getting out of the house” all that. Despite choosing restaurants where we could still eat low carb, we didn’t always do so. And we drank wine …

I figured once my hip stopped hurting, I’d get back into the kitchen. But the pain came and went and we still were eating out. A little honesty: since my most recent reset, we’ve eaten out twice. To be fair, that was an improvement – we used to go out almost every day (and boy did it take a toll on our wallet).

That said I’m still not happy with myself. I hate the idea of letting food go to waste—and my hard work in the garden—and so I’ve started cooking again. I broke out a few tried and true low carb recipes – slow cooked meatballs in yellow tomato sauce, roasted tomato soup, chicken & zucchini au gratin, low carb meatloaf (with a ghost pepper twist), and chicken parmesan.

We mostly stayed true to our keto reset (though glasses of wine did pop in a couple more times). No, we weren’t perfect, but I rediscovered my love of cooking healthy, delicious meals for us. I simply can’t give in to the ease of having someone else make and serve our food. Besides, my cooking is better anyway!

Right now I’m planning my garden for 2020. The plan is to grow more peppers, tomatoes, squash, and greens than I did this year. Which means I need to come up with more keto/low carb recipes for all that food I’m growing…

This is a great lesson to me: if you’re constantly trying to get out of the house, do something that makes staying home more appealing.

Bye for now…

11 thoughts on “An Abundance of Tomatoes”

  1. Lou

    Please give nutritional info – number servings, calories, fats and carbs. I will be greatly in your debt. They sound so good. Thank you.

    Reply
  2. Sasha

    Dear Dot,
    I do to have a garden and enjoy planting and growing vegetables it is definitely therapeutic to spend time in there. My every year selection: cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, eggplants, onions and choice of herbs.
    Please consider growing some eggplants. I have 3 to go recipes for my eggplants that are absolutely wonderful and low carb.
    Here is one for you half inch rounds of eggplants fry in the skillet smother the fried rounds with mayo mixed with a little bit pressed garlic sprinkle with greens and black pepper let sit for an hour and enjoy.

    Reply
    • Lou

      Please, please list nutritional info for all these delicious-sounding recipes or tell me where they are posted. Just discovered tour site and excited to try them. Thank you.

      Reply
      • Sasha

        Dear lou,
        I am sure that it is a lot of web pages on eggplants the recipes the ones I described above are from my childhood leaving in Ukraine. The key in cooking this vegetable is to mitigate the bitterness of the eggplant with some acidity or rather use it as the advantage if you like food a little bit hot.
        The nutritional benefits are as follows according to USDA information
        • Vitamin C keeps our immune system strong and helps our bodies heal quickly.
        • Vitamins C and K help our bodies heal quickly.
        • Fiber helps with healthy digestion and keeps us feeling full. Eating enough fiber has been shown to keep our hearts healthy too.
        • Folate, or folic acid, helps our tissues grow and our cells work. Especially important for pregnant women.
        • Potassium, a type of electrolyte, helps build muscle and keeps your heart healthy.
        • Manganese helps to keep our bones and nervous system healthy.
        •
        And because I leave by keto lifestyle the most important info for me is that 4 Oz of eggplant is equals to only to 3 net carbs

        The recipe that I have described above need 3 narrow eggplants 3 TBS of mayo 1 clove of pressed garlic salt and pepper you create one layer small fried eggplant sandwiches (the mayo has acidity, garlic and black pepper adds the kick).

        The second recipe that I like is the salad; that is marinated for 4 hours and good for up to 1 week in the refrigerator.
        2 Lbs of eggplants boil in water for 20 min, cool and cut in ¾ of an inch squares add 3 cloves of pressed garlic
        Thinly slice 1 fresh sliced onion, 1 fresh sweet bell pepper, and one fresh jalapenos.
        Combine all the veggies add 100 g of vinegar 60 g of olive oil 1.5 tsp of salt.

        And the last one that I like is the famous ratatouille I am sure you may be able to google that one yourself.

  3. Jane

    Hey Dot! How about some keto air fryer recipes! I want to try some cod chunks rolled in ground pork rinds or almond meal. Any tips? Going to roast some Brussel spouts maybe this weekend Too. Your tomatoes and peppers look yummy. Hoping to score at our local farmers market in the morning. Have great weekend 👋🏼👋🏼

    Reply
    • Dot2Trot

      Too bad. I’m hearing that from a lot of gardeners. Sounds like the weather wasn’t that cooperative this year. Fingers crossed next year will be better.

      Reply
  5. Gabriella Parry

    Hi Dot, Get a stool you are too good a cook and and inspiration to us all not to carry on. I am awaiting a new hip and have a stool in the kitchen for when I need it I have been following your recipes for a while now, yeah I know it’s hard to concentrate and carry on when you are in constant pain, but please cook in the odd times when the pain is less intense you are as I said an inspiration to a lot of us I must admit that I am using morphine patches for the pain which just takes the edge off the pain but doesn’t get rid of it completely. Keep your chin up girl you are great and greatly appreciated.

    Reply
    • Dot2Trot

      Hi Gabriella and thank you. And yes, we have stools in the kitchen (my island doubles as our kitchen table) that I use when the pain gets too much. Thankfully I’m more mobile now and don’t have to use the stool that much. But my husband does all the filming/editing. He is stuck on a huge project for his job, so his spare time is spent working. But the videos start back up early next year.

      Reply

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