Farming has Flung A Craving...

Morning guys...It's Friday!! All this farm talk has made me hungry for some sure nuf good garden food...so yesterday Bill & I went looking for the local curb market's ...our local Farmer's Market will open again on Saturday (I'll be going there for sure and maybe getting some peas to shell or beans to snap!!) But in the meantime You have to look for farmers set up on the sides of the road with their goodies!!! Yea we're that country down here! lol We bought some gorgeous red ripe tomatoes for sandwiches and then I had a craving for some of these...

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES!!!! Yep.. you heard me! I love fried green tomatoes and I do them a few different ways but today I'll share this way with you...here is your ingredients....

Wash the tomatoes and dry them..now slice them not to thick and salt and pepper them...

I put a rack on a cookie sheet and cover with paper towels so I can put the fried tomatoes on it when I get thru cooking...

You will mix your flour and cornmeal together in a bowl and add enough buttermilk to make a thick batter that will stay on the tomatoes!

Fry a few pieces at a time in just a little oil..they just need to be golden brown and then flip and do the other side...just a few minutes for each one...

Place them on the paper towels to drain and just look at all that mouth watering goodness..ohhhh glory...(I actually cooked 5 green tomatoes in this batch)

then grab a plate and some ranch dressing and go to town!!!!!! (eating them that is!) lol It is so easy and so fast and I love them when they set alittle and get cool but the rest of this bunch can't hardly wait until they have hit the plate! Had to tell Bill to wait until I at least got a picture....man I thought he knew that by now!!!!! lol

Today is Foodie Friday at Designs By Gollum be sure to go over there and check out all the great bloggers and their recipes! Sweet Pickle over at Notesongs did her post on red tomatoes today...ohhh you need to go check those out for sure!!! Have a great weekend everybody and support your local farmers!!!! Love you guys! ~♥~

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES

1 cup self rising flour

1 cup self rising cornmeal (I use yellow)

2 cups buttermilk (You can use sweet milk just enough to make a thick batter)

5 green tomatoes

oil

mix the flour & meal together in bowl add buttermilk and mix it will be thick...

slice your tomatoes and salt & pepper them and add them to the batter...

heat just enough oil to cover the bottom of a skillet not to high of heat

do a few pieces at a time..brown on both sides (will cook very quick) drain on paper towels

They are fantastic dipped in ranch dressing....

NOTE: I cook for my large family...normal sizes wouldn't need this much...just cut the recipe in half with everything and you will still have a nice size amount of tomatoes! ( I do that when no one is around just for me! lol)

Farming...It's A Good Thing!!!!!

Morning guys! Yes I'm still here..just down on the farm alot (Farmtown on Facebook)! lol I tell you this 'farming' is the most relaxing thing and it really gets your creative juices flowing....once you figure out how to build up your coins and plant good crops that take a few days to come in you don't have to work as much...unlessssss you are wanting a barn so bad so you are planting those 4 hour grapes during the day shift for extra money and then you find out people can hire you to work their farm (yes I'm for hire...ohhhh does that make me sound cheap!) Then you realize you don't have to buy trees and flowers and animals cause your neighbors can give those to you as gifts...yahoo!

I have the bestest neighbors...(Justine still fusses at me for the way I do my farm! lol) She came over the other day (yes she can be 'bought' also) and man she was fussing about all my little in's and out's!!!! I told her I love little cubby holes with different stuff like my own back yard..ohhhh don't think she didn't yell at me "Well I'm not harvesting your backyard...I'm harvesting your farm!!!!" lol Lin told me it was like a treasure hunt trying to find my crops and I think she butchered one of my COWS!!!!

But oh the day finally came...I was able to buy a BARN!!!!! Yes a barn...don't see me ever affording one of those houses but ohhhhh glory I got me a barn!!!! The day I was able to push that 'buy' button I kid you not...I squealed so loud it scared Bill to death and he came running and I was sitting here just staring at it and crying and laughing at the same time...I think he secretly went in the closet and called the kids telling them I need medication and quick! I sent out letters to my friends on Farmtown even...I HAVE A BARN!!!! I go to my neighbors and look at their huge Ponderosa Size farms and dream and I even got to upgrade the other day and get a bigger lot! lol Of course you then have to move all your fences and redo the farm but that is just like decorating the house to me...I love it!

Yes I tell you this 'farming' stuff is good for the imagination..see here..I have had these two glass canisters for months..they have black ceramic lids and a fantastic seal (got them at Wal-Mart) but they just sit in the closet cause I thought they looked alittle modern once I got them home...welllll my brain went on a genius spurt yesterday and I took my litte chicken that I had under a dome and stuck her in one and then (my brightest idea of all) I got my old recipe box that has my recipes that I have used for years in it..like my beloved Lane Cake...ohhhh glory....oh sorry!

and just like that I made new 'cloches'....Oh Lordy I think Marty just fainted!!!! lol I thought it was a good idea! lol lol Seriously...we finally got some much needed rain...Bill put a glass door going out the living room to the back porch for me..that way I can leave the french door open during the day and look out and Tracy is getting ready to get a U-HAUL!!!!!! Weeeee Haaaaaa! My baby just may be coming home after all! Hope all is well on your side of the mountain today..take care you guys ~♥~

I'm Thankful....

Hey guys!!!!! What a fantastic weekend it has been! My heart has just been full all weekend long....Started out Friday morning...Youngest Burly calls and ask me to go fishing with him and his family..oh glory!!! He comes and picks me up and we head off to a private catfish lake with the grandbabies..I caught a whopper as long as my arm first thing! Didn't you hear me squeal!!! Sean (grandson from Oklahoma) caught one right after that just as big...he sat right next to me and baited my hook and took my fish off for me..even the little ones were catching fish!

Angie goes around to the other side and catches a sure nuf whopper...yells out 'I'm done! I got my supper!' lol We took a lunch break back at the house and then Jen and her kids met up with us and we all headed back to the lake....at one moment Sean got busy helping the little ones and I attempted to bait my own hook..eeewwwwww..Sean comes back and gets all serious on me...'Maw Maw..this is a monumental moment!! You have made me proud!!!' lol It was just fantastic...

Saturday we all met down at Baby girl's (Jen) for a BBQ..ohhh it was good! lol It is amazing to see your nieces' kids come walking in and they look just like your little nieces did when they were little and for a moment you are taken back in time..I look around the room and I am surrounded by all my precious blessings..grown men with babies of their own yet in my heart's eye they are still my young boys running thru the house yelling 'Mom! Where are you?!" My beautiful daughters ..one still in Oklahoma...no longer little dumpling faces with golden curls dangling...but beautiful strong women that have so wonderfully taken on the torch in the family of family gatherings and they carry it well and make me proud...my daughter-in-laws and son-in-laws that are just like my own kids to me the way they love and care for their mates and their kids and the love they show me & Bill..

Then there is mama & daddy...ohhhh sweet Lord to still have my precious parents is a gift beyond words...they are such an anchor in our family....they have showed us such an example of love and fellowship with God and to know that my own kids know God and the power of prayer and the beauty of just watching them grow in the Lord...I just am so thankful..and one of the sweetest moments came when mama walked into the living room and saw the fireplace and mantel for the first time since I redid it with her pictures...when she saw the little photo of her and daddy from the 70's standing in front of the same pictures..her mouth opened and she just gasp and stood there for a moment not saying a word...I cannot describe the look on her face but you could tell her heart was touched so deeply and that to me was priceless.

I am thankful that I can freely come and go...I am thankful that I can talk to God anywhere and at anytime...I am thankful that I can go to the store and buy food for my family...I am thankful I have a roof over my head...I am thankful that I woke up in my right mind this morning and I have all my senses about me....I am thankful that with every dark hour that has come and with every hurt and heartache that has tried to destroy my family...even when my heart had grown weary and scared and all hope seem to be lost..ohhhh sweet Lord I am soooo thankful for the Love and Mercy of a living God that I have run to time and time again...He has taken the darkness and brought light from it...if we learn to love and be thankful for even the simpliest of things in this life then the big things just don't seem so big any more....we just have to trust and believe and when our hearts are so broken we just can't seem to see hope...then pray 'God...help my unbelief.'

I have said this before and I will say it again...you can't redo yesterday so let it go...you can't count on tomorrow..it is not even here yet...but today...today you can make choices...you can either sat and drown in your own pity or you can stand tall and dare to believe for your miracle...you are not just a number among the mulitude..Jesus was walking and being touched by the crowd from all sides..but he stopped and said 'someone touched me...those around him didn't understand..in the natural everyone within reach was touching Him..but what He meant was someone touched Him thru their heart thru their faith....right now this very minute you can 'reach' out and touch Him...call upon Him my friend...He will show Himself strong for you...

Have a glorious week my friends and may it be filled with love and blessings...~♥~