Ordering Disorder
with Busy Mom
When you have kids, the battle between order and chaos at home can take place on many fronts. Ordering Disorder is about ways to fight domestic entropy with organizing tips, tricks, meal ideas and more.
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My garden runneth over with non-ripe vegetables. And sadly, the warm summer growing days are over. We have had frost a couple of nights now and so I was forced to pick everything.
Remember the movie Fried Green Tomatoes? I love that movie. If I had to rank my most favorite movies of all time it would be at the top of the list. Along with the Princess Bride and the Wizard of Oz. I am sure that there are others that I just can’t even think of right now.
The movie was what first introduced me to fried green tomatoes. Before that green tomatoes were something that sat on your windowsill until they turned red or rotted.
You will need:
3-4 green tomatoes
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup corn meal
1/2 tsp salt & pepper
milk (I only had half-n-half and figured why not! What’s a few more calories.)
vegetable oil
Step One:
Slice up your tomatoes.
Mix together flour, cornmeal, salt and pepper. Add enough milk to create a thick batter.
Heat 2 inches of oil in a large skillet.
Batter each tomato slice.
Carefully place in hot oil, brown on both sides.
Drain the tomatoes on a paper towel.
Yum!
What did my kids have to say about these?
My 7 yr old: If you made these for dinner, I would put myself to bed hungry.
My 13 yr old: Um, they are okay. I mean I don’t think that you should make more or anything. But, you know, they are okay. I guess.
3 yr old: This is di-cuting. I don’t wike cooked up fings. I don’t wike gween fings.
5 yr old: The bread part tastes good, Mom. But I am full.
12 yr old: yeah, I don’t think I want to taste one right now. Maybe later.
11 yr old: Or, you know, never.
Just keeping it real for you. Clearly we are not Southerners.
But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t make these for your family. What else are you going to do with your bushel of green tomatoes? Then later on tonight when you serve your kids dino shaped chicken nuggets you can feel good that you at least offered them vegetables today.
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The three year-old’s response has me laughing, and the seven year-old’s is probably the one I would use myself. But thanks for the recipe!
Dustin | October 9th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
One year my mother in law wrapped t all of her green tomatoes in a piece of newspaper and then put them in a basket. She had ripe tomatoes through Valentines Day. I couldn’t believe they didn’t just rot. They were delicious!
PollyS | October 9th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
To clarify…she wrapped the tomatoes individually. Sorry, my brain is mush today. Well, everyday.
PollyS | October 9th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
Oh man. I totally want some. Mah parents are from the deep south and my meemaw made THE BEST FGT. I think it’s an acquired taste though.
Rosie | October 9th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
I usually lurk - but couldn’t resist — what about fried green cherry tomatoes? I have a ton of those — I can’t imagine all the little slices though.. They’d be cute! Maybe I could fry up the entire little tomato–hmm…
Karen Simmons | October 9th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
I love that you keep it real. I don’t think it would go over with my kids either. They like the outside of onion rings but we have to take the onion out. Picky, Picky!
Mindy | October 9th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
>What else are you going to do with your bushel of green tomatoes?<
Pickle them … pickled tomatoes, yum!
LizP | October 9th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
We do that with aubergine (eggplant) and green beens as well. And with fish filets, specially cod. My children love them all, but we’re southerners (if only southern Europeans…)
Must try with tomatos, then.
marta | October 9th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
This is a summer staple in the South! I usually use a little more cornmeal than flour, though. They get more crispy and less “pancake-y” that way. You can also cook squash, eggplant, and okra the same way. Slice an onion to cook along with the veggies…yummmmmmm.
Julie Rogers | October 9th, 2008 at 11:59 pm
Gawd, this looks scary. I wouldn’t feed it to myself, much less the kids (who are more likely eat it cos I practice double standards in this house - they eat all veggies, I don’t). Still, it’s hilarious and thanks for sharing. I never realized fried green tomatoes were a real recipe.
Hsin | October 10th, 2008 at 2:07 am
Ummmmm–looks good, but mine would not taste near as good as yours–I imagine everything you make tastes better in that kitchen of yours.
Jo Anne | October 10th, 2008 at 2:09 am
aha! Now I know what to do with all my green tomatoes, DEElicious!
kinda peppery but that may have been because the pepper lid came off ..
still good!
brit | October 10th, 2008 at 3:01 am
I saw a recipe once where they made them spicy and added MORE calories by serving them up on english muffins with some creamy sauce slathered all over the top. Eek!
Brigitte | October 10th, 2008 at 9:32 am
We love fried green tomatoes here! Being a New Englander, I had never heard of them until I met my husband who is from Michigan. I have my own standard recipe, but I’ll have to try yours-it looks yummy!
I just picked all the green cherry tomatoes and will pickle them this weekend (if they don’t all turn red first before I can get to it!)
Loved the comments from your kids.
Nancy | October 10th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Except tomatoes are a fruit. I have a lot of green tomatoes on my vines and I am from the south. So it might be time to try this, thanks for the recipe.
Jennifer | October 10th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
All four of our kids love these! We are southerners and we live out in the country so it is kind of mandatory. We love FGT so much that we pick green tomatoes even in the middle of summer to have this treat.
Chris, your technique is not southern. Instead of making a batter, we dip fairly thin tomato slices in milk or buttermilk and then dredge them in a cornmeal and flour mixture before frying. That makes them really crispy on the outside and kind of soft and jammy on the inside.
I haven’t made them in a while, but now I want some. I’ll have to raid the vines when I get home.
Karen, you should make green tomato pickles with the cherry tomatoes. Soooo yummy!
Heather from NC | October 10th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
I was just lamenting to friends about the bucket of green tomatoes I had. Now I know what to do with them!
Angella | October 10th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
My grandmother made FGT all the time when I was growing up but I never wanted to try them. Picky eater that I was.
I recently went to a restaurant and they had FGT on the menu. I had read a review in the paper that they were so good. When I tried them, I was actually MAD at myself for not eating my grandmother’s FGT all those years!!!! I was completely surprised how much I LOVE THEM!!!!! I remember my mother never putting up too much of a fight because I wouldn’t eat them. NOW I KNOW THAT SHE WANTED THEM ALL FOR HERSELF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL!!
Suzie Q | October 10th, 2008 at 4:41 pm