This time of the year is my favorite (just in case I haven’t said it enough already), and one of the reasons I love it so much is the produce. Namely, the exquisite tomatoes.
As I’ve already said, I do not have fortune of having the green thumb possessed by my mother, aunt, and cousin. I planted 3 tomato plants this year and ended up with a meager 5 tomatoes. My mom, however, planted 2 tomato plants and has produced enough tomatoes to keep all of us in caprese salad for a couple of weeks now, with no indication of slowing production.
There are times that I find myself with more tomatoes than I know what to do with. When this happens, I worry that these lovely homegrown tomatoes will go bad, as one can only eat so much tomato salad.
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One thing you may not know about me yet: I have a completely black thumb. I can’t grow anything. I have had a pot of live basil in my kitchen that I have had to replace no less than eight times in the two years I’ve lived here. All I have wanted is to get this stuff to grow and flourish. But I just can’t get myself to step up and take good enough care of it. I did ok for a few months this year, but only because I had two weekly reminders on my phone to water it. A few moths ago, something happened with my phone, it glitched and lost the reminders, and the basil bit the dust (again).
Whatever day this recipe walked off the Turbinado Sugar package and into our family was a really good day. Honestly, this was sortof the first thing I ever liked that had actual Cayenne Pepper in it! Not only did I like them, I actually REQUESTED them from my mom whenever the Autumn leaves started changing. In law school, I made these for my roommate one year, and forever-more, they will be deemed “Yum” because that’s what he and all his friends called them.
I have to say, the Fall is probably the one time a year I actually have an easy time coming up with recipes for “Meatless Mondays.” The harvest is abundant and I love the produce which comes out of it. Tomatoes are no exception. A good tomato can seriously make me fall in love. I had an acquaintance in law school who found out I loved food. He offered me a bag of fresh, home-grown tomatoes from his family’s Napa garden, and I’m not sure I would be exaggerating if I said this was the moment I knew we had to be friends. He brought me so many tomatoes that year I had to make pasta with tomatoes three times just to make sure I didn’t let any of the beautiful, multi-colored fruit go to waste–and that was with eating salads and raw tomatoes almost every day for approximately 2-3 weeks in the interim.
Every time I hear the word “Succotash,” admittedly, I don’t think of food…. I think of Looney Tunes. Unfortunately, we’re entering a time when many people don’t even know what that means. If you ask me, the cartoons in our world have taken a serious dive since the days of My Little Pony, Looney Tunes and the Gummy Bears. 
Saturdays on the Hungry Dater tend to be slightly eclectic. But the standard themes of a Saturday night tend to be two things for me: dates and dinner parties. Sometimes they go hand in hand, but always they include some great food.
Hello Hungry Daters! And welcome to another “Meatless” Monday. I have always had difficulties eating vegetables, but I have to admit, it’s much much easier for me in the Summer, and that is thanks to the grill. Though I don’t always love the taste of vegetables, I do love the taste of a grill fire, and it seems to make everything better. This isn’t really a recipe so much as a form of cooking. When May comes around, I always start looking for sweet corn. I know it’s still a bit early, and in May and sometimes June, it’s always a crap shoot as to whether the kernels are going to be extra thick because I’ve purchased them a smidge too early. But honestly, even then, I will consume fresh corn in several different ways, often at an alarming rate–tough kernels be damned! And now, we’re definitely in prime corn season for at least two more months….
I think it was my parents’ generation who really first decided to start grilling fruit. I mean, I’m sure it happened before then… and often, but I want to say that grilling fruit at home became much more main stream about the time I was in high school in the early 2000’s.
An actual meatless recipe for “Meatless” Mondays this week, though admittedly, you probably want to eat this with something else as it’s not a meal in itself. I make this slaw frequently in the summer because it goes so well with traditional BBQ (including the Ribs posted here). Depending on what kind of meal I’m making, there are often times I won’t use all the dressing it calls for. Sometimes I’ll even add vinegar to the recipe to cut the mayo and make it feel a tiny bit healthier, while still making sure all the cabbage is covered. However, when it’s the mate for traditional BBQ, for a special occasion, that is the perfect time to use this recipe just as it is.