Make the Most of Harvested Tomatoes

It's harvest time. And in Colorado local tomatoes have ripened a little late this year -- better late than never!

Via my urban farm friend, Barbara, I've learned of heirloom tomatoes with names like Zebra, Aussie, German Green (pic at left), and beefsteak varieties like Carnival.

I've been sampling them all too, trying to distinguish flavor differences. But to tell you the truth, I haven't noticed obvious variations. I did however, notice that they're all sweet, juicy and succulent.

Because sweet, juicy, and succulent is the feature of ripe, good quality heirlooms and beefsteaks there's really not much that you need do with these beauties other than serve them at room temperature, sliced, drizzled with a little olive oil, & sprinkled with salt and freshly ground black pepper (pic above.)

Room temperature will enhance the intrinsic flavor of fresh produce. I hate to state the obvious, but straight from the fridge, produce like tomatoes, simply taste cold and fridgey.

If you have an abundance of ripe tomatoes, keep them refrigerated so they don't spoil, but keep a stash on a platter on your kitchen bench for room-temperature consumption. As you eat them, replace those tomatoes with a couple from your fridge.

Tomatoes that are not ripe are best left out at room temp to ripen. If they're quite hard, put them on a windowsill where they'll get sunlight.

Tomatoes that fail to ripen will be absent great flavor. Tomatoes that are over-ripe and mushy are great made into the following:

• tomato sauce
  
• tomato chutney
  
• tomato paste
  
• tomato puree, which is a thinner less rich version of paste, and
• summer tomato soup

If you have an abundance of tomatoes that you'd rather not cook, dry them instead.

1. Slice them
2. Sprinkle slices with salt and herbs if you wish
3. Place them on a raised rack and put the rack in the sun covered with a light cloth, like cheesecloth--though this will need to be elevated so that it doesn't sick to the tomatoes.
4. Bring tomatoes inside at night; depending on the strength of the sun, drying could take several days or a couple of weeks.

If the above drying technique sounds like a hassle, you could dry tomatoes in the oven, the microwave or a dehydrator. I know a number of people who've invested in a dehydrator so they can dry tomatoes, peppers, peaches, apples.

Drying produce is a great way to ensure a pantry of harvest produce over the winter.

But back to fresh beefsteaks, in particular the Carnival variety.

I made a polenta, chard and bacon cake this past weekend and though the Carnival I had was on the verge of being too ripe, it sliced well so I used it to top the dish ( pic left).

To keep the juicy tomato pieces from sliding off the polenta, I used a tablespoon of sour cream and thick, cold pesto to adhere them.

Vegetable & Bacon Polenta Cake with Tomato
1) Pour one cup of polenta into 4 cups of water. Stir over low heat for about 30 mins. Put lid on pot & set aside.
2) Smash and chop a clove of garlic; toss into pan with a sliced onion and some olive oil.
3) Slice a couple rashers of bacon, pork or turkey, toss in with onions and garlic.
4) Wash and chop a dark leafy green, like chard or spinach; add to pan. Stir pan contents about; turn heat to low and put lid on pan and let contents cook for about 10 mins.
5) At the 10-min mark, add pan contents to pot of cooked polenta. Stir with a wooden spoon, mixing veggies & bacon into polenta.
6) Toss a handful of dry, grated Italian cheese into polenta. Stir until cheese has melted. Taste test, and add salt and pepper to your liking. Pour polenta mix onto a plate and let it cool.
7) Once cooled, slice polenta cake and top slices with dobs of thick sour cream, sliced tomato and decorate with either a sprig of basil or parsley, or a dob of pesto.

Note: You could stir the pesto into the sour cream and top the polenta slices with this mix, using it to adhere the tomato pieces.

To Serve: Present sliced polenta cake on a platter, as above, with a salad and meat dish, if you wish. You could also serve the polenta cake hot. In which case, once it has cooled and set, reheat it by covering it with foil and popping it in the oven. If serving hot, put the creamy pesto into a small condiment dish and serve it separately along with a simple platter of tomatoes, like the sliced German Greens in the pic above.

Eat a Local Breakfast

It's the start of a new week and a new day and as I do every day, I chugged down a glass of GoodBelly Plus, a probiotic multi-vitamin infused juice drink.

I'm continuing on from last week's theme and featuring local food vendors who sell their product at Whole Foods Market.

There's over 100 local vendors at WFs Boulder, so there's plenty more reasons to stay-tuned and explore with me the foods produced by this area's food entrepreneurs.

In the effort to be prepared for today's post I popped into my local WFs, which is about a mile down the road, where I perused the shelves looking for the sign saying, "I'm local."

It was about 9.30 a.m. when I began my research and I hadn't had breakfast. One of the tips I've offered for staying on budget grocery shopping is don't grocery shop hungry; you're more likely to avoid impulse purchases if you're not thinking about your stomach (instead of your budget) while surrounded by food.

Of course my intention was to just pop into WFs, take a few pics of local food items for this week's posts, and get out, but I ended up doing a little impulse shopping because I was hungry!

As I mentioned above, I'd already had a chug of GoodBelly, the first product produced by the company NextFoods which was founded by Steve Demos, natural foods entrepreneur. Read here about how Steve came to create GoodBelly.

I can't say enough good things about GoodBelly. Over the years I've bought probiotics in pill form at great expense only to be told by my health-care practicioner that I wasn't getting the "billions of live bacteria" that I apparently needed.

Then about a year ago, I saw GoodBelly in the dairy section of the market. I read the label on the Good Belly Plus packet, and noted that it contained 20-billion clinically tested live cultures per 2.7 oz container, plus multi-vitamins, and it's dairy and wheat-free. It sounded like just what the doctor ordered.

For anyone who has traveled to a developing country and eaten bacteria-laden food or water, or who has taken antibiotics, re-populating the gut with billions of live, good bacteria is a must. And that's why GoodBelly is just what the doctor ordered; it contains all the good stuff that a belly needs to be healthy.

I'm not much of a fruit-juice drinker, but GoodBelly is more than a juice and it's not as expensive as many 100% juice products. GoodBelly products are so often on sale at WFs, that I rarely pay full price. Additionally, there are 50c off coupons inside the GoodBelly Plus packets, and the company has buy one get one free coupons available on their website.

After I took the pic of the GoodBelly quart container (above), I found myself in the bulk section of WFs, pointing my iphone at a container of "I'm Local" granola.

I poured some local granola into a bag, tagged it and then realized it was Fiona's Cinnamon and Almond Granola.

Last week I featured Fiona's granola and made the comment that I hadn't tried it because my preference is to buy grains, cereals etc. in bulk, not in packets since you always pay more for packets.

So this morning I tried Fiona's granola because I was able to pick and pay for only what I wanted.

At $6.99 lb, my few ounces cost a couple of dollars, which is no less than paying almost $5 for one of her 12 oz boxes. However, buying in bulk meant I spent $2 on impulse rather than $5.

Since my focus today is breakfast, I was pleased to see the "I'm local" sign underneath Madhava Mountain Gold Clover Honey.

Not that Fiona's granola needs the addition of honey, since it's already sweetened with agave nectar, which by the way Madhava also produces, but honey is one of those condiments to have on hand for brekkie, lunch and dinner, and for snacks in between.

Because the price of Madhava honey is competitive with other honey on the shelf at WFs, I've been buying it happily for years. It's an easy choice because it's local and because I love the heavy, syrupy texture of the Wildflower honey, and the golden color and delicate flavor of their Clover honey.

Having mentioned Boulder's, Steve Demos, and his former company WhiteWave, I might add that if you do decide to have a local breakfast of GoodBelly, followed by Fiona's granola, topped with a drizzle of Madhava honey, why not wet the lot with some local WhiteWave Soy milk or yoghurt.

Gourmet Tea and Fancy Granola

"I'm a local."

That's what the sign says in front of the tinned, Tea Spot tea on the shelf at my local Whole Foods Market a mile down the road from where I live in Boulder.

I was an enthusiastic local Tea Spot patron when the Tea Spot had a lovely little tea cafe in the center of town.

But late last winter the cafe closed, which is unfortunate. However, I'm sure it had nothing to do with their wide selection of teas and more to do with the stiff competition in Boulder.

Tea and coffee cafes abound in this town and their success is all about position, position, position. Though the Tea Spot was in a pretty locale, it wasn't in a consistently well-peopled area.

And if sitting in a cafe on your laptop drinking tea or coffee is all about being seen and connecting with others on their laptops, then the Tea Spot cafe was destined to have a short lifespan because it's position failed to attract a crowd beyond weekend foot traffic.

Never mind, the Tea Spot now wholesales to stores like WFs, as well as sells their selection of beautifully merchandised loose leaf teas online direct to the public.

You'll note that the price is around $10 per tin, which is spendy, though this is high-end gourmet tea!

There's nothing shabby about their Snowflakes tea (pic to left) which is a pure, single-estate white tea. And the gorgeous tins alone are worth collecting and keeping for use as storage containers.

Additionally, their pricing matches other gourmet tinned teas on the shelf at WFs so they're no more spendy than the competition, and their tins are by far the prettiest and the most practical for re-using.

I had several faves that I used to buy in 2 0z sachets from the cafe: Early Grey, Bolder Breakfast, Creme Caramel, and their Mango Tango, all of which are flavored black teas. Their selection goes beyond black and flavored black to include, white, green, oolong, pu'erh and herbal teas.

The last of my featured Whole Foods vendors for this week is Fiona's Granola. I remember meeting Fiona for the first time about 6 years ago. It was at a Boulder Chamber, Women's Leads Group meeting. She was trying to build her granola business and was in need of mentoring and support.

I guess she got what she needed because half a dozen years later, her line of product has really expanded, her merchandising has "wow" factor, and her brand is ubiquitous in Boulder.

To be honest, I haven't tried her 6 flavors of Granola, her Quinoa Crunch or her European Muesli. As I've mentioned in previous posts, I'm an advocate of buying grains, cereals, pulses and so on in bulk; it's cost-efficient and there's no packaging to dispose of, however, not all Fiona products are boxed, some of her granola is merchandised in brown bags.

I have had her quinoa bars, which sell in local tea and coffee cafes (the ones I frequent now that the Tea Spot has closed). Fiona's bars are as healthy as her granola. I read the label with interest last time I ate her Almond Chocolate Chip Quinoa Bar and it was all whole food, the kind of thing you'd make for yourself at home if you could be bothered tossing quinoa, nuts, chocolate pieces, coconut, seeds, agave nectar and canola oil into a blender.

Fiona has a delicious line of wheat-free ($4.99 for 12 0z) and gluten-free granola (pic to left, $6.99 for 12 oz).

I think if I were on a restricted diet, I would definitely try these products, knowing how dedicated she is to quality.

But if I decided to spend $7 or so on 12 ounces of gfree granola, chances are I wouldn't be on a budget.

In other words, this is not breakfast cereal for individuals or families grocery shopping on a budget.

Nevertheless, local girl Fiona Simon has clearly found a local market with her line of granola, muesli, quinoa crunch, bars and trail mix and I'm glad she has because it is better to buy local, than say, rice bubbles imported from the Middle East!

Seed and Nut Waffles

Brian, my guest this week, is a single dad who doesn't like to cook.

So I was relieved to hear that one of the things Brian does enjoy is grilling for his two young boys on his barbeque.

I think every man not comfortable in the kitchen should invest in a barbeque, because if there is one blokey gadget that will make cooking fun and easy, it's a barby.

You can grill meat, fish, burgers, brats, veggies, potatoes, mushrooms and bread ... the list goes on. I mean there's almost no reason for a bloke to be in a kitchen if he's comfortable on the patio with a barbeque.

In addition to the barbeque, there's another gadget that came to mind when I wandered around WFs with Brian looking at food he and the boys would enjoy, and that's the waffle iron.

You see, Brian expressed interest in finding another breakfast item for his boys, something they'd enjoy and something he could prepare quickly and easily.

He saw WFs 365-brand organic, flax seed waffles and was impressed by the price, plus he's comfortable heating them up and serving them with grilled sausage, and or some of his frozen fruit, which as I mentioned yesterday, he keeps on hand for his Zone smoothies.

Now, this might be a bit of a stretch for blokes like Brian, but it is easy to make your own waffles. And with a waffle iron on hand (either in the kitchen or you could plug it in on the patio) all that's involved is whipping up the batter then pouring it into the iron.

Cindy, who I featured last week, loves to make waffles for her college-age boys when they drop in on the weekend for brunch. That's her waffle iron and cooked waffle in the pictures above.

And here's Cindy's waffle recipe:

Nutritious, Seed & Nut Waffles
1) In a large mixing bowl mix your own combination of the following dry ingredients:

1/4 cup of whole wheat flour, unbleached white flour, quinoa flour and oat or brown rice flour (2 cups of flour in total).
2) Add 1 and half teaspoons of baking powder and a half teaspoon of salt.
3) In another bowl, whisk 1 egg (or 2 egg whites). Add one & quarter cups of your choice of soy, rice, cow, goat milk or a combination of any of the above.
4) Add to milk a quarter cup light oil or for low fat diets, apple juice. If you use apple juice, you may need to oil the waffle iron.
5) Pour wet ingredients into dry mix, stir, add more liquid if too thick, add more flour it too thin.
6) To batter, add flax seeds, sesame seeds, and or any ground nuts for protein and fiber.
7) Pour batter into hot waffle iron and cook till golden brown.

To Serve: Top with fresh berries, maple syrup and a dollop of yogurt, or breakfast sausage.

Note: Making your own waffles is more economical than buying frozen or boxed waffle mix, and you can freeze the extras for later use.