Thursday, August 2, 2012

I Almost Reached for the Box

I said "almost"! We have a couple of boxed side dishes in the spare room and when I was trying to figure what to have for supper, I almost got one but it seemed a shame to put a boxed side dish with a nice piece of home raised chicken. Not to mention that there was that bowl of nice tomatoes and peppers on the counter. I put the tomatoes in boiling water to get the skins off, the cut them up. Added some home grown garlic, some onion, some home grown peppers, salt, pepper and I ran down to the garden and picked a little basil and a little fresh oregano.
Put on to simmer..
While I made some rice..
Must have been good because even Michelle ate it.
No box involved.

Here was the surprise Phil brought home today. He got all these 2x4's free from one of his bosses. I believe we will be finishing up that fence this weekend!


13 comments:

  1. Well done. You're my kind of cook...I bet it was great.

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    1. The fresh tomato taste was so nice. Nothing like those in a can that's for sure. We all liked it and ate it.

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    2. Hi Becky I agree there is nothing like fresh tomatos.
      Thats wy I grow various you can't beat a sauce made with
      fresh tomatos.
      good luck with the fence.

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  2. Hi Becky! Sounds delicious! I love spontaneous cooking! And what a blessing! All those two-by-fours for free! Stay cool, and have a nice weekend working with that wood! Blessings from Bama!

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  3. That looks great, Becky! Somehow the food we make out of our harvest is always better tasking than the so called delicious box foods.

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    1. It really didn't take much more time than the box mix and, of course, way more healthy.

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  4. Looks great and fast too! Nice score on the 2x4's!

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    1. The 2x4's came from a wall someone was taking down. We are quite pleased to have them :)

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  5. Food cooked from first principles beats pre-prepared stuff every day. Anything with Oregano in it appeals to me, and tomatoes are the ideal partner for it.

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    1. The fresh herbs made such a difference. In my way of thinking, fresh oregano is a while different spice from the dried--basil too for that matter. Perhaps I will dig up my basil for the winter and take it inside and see if I can keep it until next year. I have my doubts as our house gets cold in the winter but maybe.

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  6. Hey Becky, I can smell that simmering right now. MMMmmmmmm!

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  7. my mother used to make a rice and tomato dish like that - she called it spanish rice. she would brown up a cup or so of rice in an iron skillet with a little butter...then add the peppers, tomatoes and whatever else she had on hand...and simmer for about twenty minutes or so with a lid (an old pizza pie pan) on it. by the time everything else she was cooking was ready, the spanish rice was just right.....i wish i could find some free lumber about now...lucky you!!!

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  8. Looks great, the things I grab at the last minute and cook are usually the best. Finishing up my 2nd batch of chow-chow right now. I had intended to make one more batch, but have decided to just use up the cabbage, by making cabbage with corned beef and then some stewed potatos for dinner. I need a break from canning, been at it so much lately. Wish I had some herbs growing like you do. How did that happen, lots of veggies, but no herbs?? :(

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