In my Ann Arbor kitchen from May 1-21, I made a number of dishes that involved canned tomatoes. Sad that the Michigan tomato crop right now is just a few little plants growing in peoples gardens or maybe still on their windows sills, with great tomatoes coming only towards summer’s end. Sad that our yard isn’t sunny enough for tomatoes. The happy part: from May 22 onward, a trip to Arizona. By the time I post this, you will have seen what we found there. For more kitchen news, check with Sherry’s Pickings In My Kitchen.
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| A pot of chili: a garnished bowl of this is shown above. Quite a few canned tomatoes here! |
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| Mushrooms in a tomato sauce, to be eaten cold with cilantro. |
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| Tortillas filled with ricotta and topped with cheddar, in a tomato salsa out of a bottle. |
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| Ottolenghi’s eggplant dumplings with canned tomatoes and basil leaves. |
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| Good old-fashioned spaghetti on the stovetop. |
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| Gumbo with green pepper, celery, onion, tomato, and of course okra. |
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| Deeper tomato flavor? I add a squeeze of tomato paste. |
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| Another useful pantry item: sun-dried tomatoes in oil. |
Spring tomatoes from the market are not bad, but I can’t wait til the Michigan summer crop comes in:
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| Tomatoes in a big bowl of salad. |
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| With red pepper and onion as a garnish for cold soup. |
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| On a plate with other raw vegetables to eat with Len’s freshly-baked bread, butter, and cheese. |
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| Tomatoes, cheese, and cilantro leaves. |
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| Tomatoes, Trader Joe’s smoked tuna, lemons, and parsley. |
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| Breakfast on the patio on the first really warm morning of the year. My coffee and juice are shared with Elizabeth and her friendly bloggers at Altered Book Lover. |
Food in Arizona: The rest of the month of May—
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| Not my kitchen: Dickey’s Barbecue Kitchen |
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| Driving around Arizona with a group of 8 birders: a chain restaurant barbecue lunch at Dickey’s. |
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| Coming from a Mexican kitchen in Sierra Vista: a dinner for the 8 of us birders. |
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| We really loved these Sonoran tacos at a restaurant in Tucson. Mexican food was definitely a highlight of the trip (second to birding). |
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| Our guide prepared a number of quite interesting picnic lunches and dinners. We all agree: food tastes better outdoors! Especially in these breathtaking woodlands and mountains. |
© 2021 mae sander
30 comments:
Wow lots of yummy food today. Have a nice day.
Beautiful and delicious looking food photos.
Since I am in the south, our tomato plants are already forming small tomatoes. I can't wait, but meanwhile I am able to find vine ripened one form a farm a little south of us. They are delicious after eating winter tomatoes!
So much deliciousness here!
What a wonderful selection of good looking food :)
All the best Jan
I found my cilantro (coriander) seeds today. Scott and I are doing a happy dance. I love your tomatoes, cheese, and cilantro leaves. Is that pesto on your sandwich with the breakfast salad, tomatoes, and cheese? The greens look wonderful, too.
I live next door to a Mexican family. They are the sweetest people. Every time they have one of their outdoor cookouts, they bring me a plate of the best Mexican food in the world. It looks like you had some good Sonoran tacos, too. Thanks for sharing your food and making me incredibly hungry. Our food is still cooking, so I will have to appreciate yours instead. Thanks for sharing your breakfast juices with us for T this not quite Tuesday, too.
Your foods always looks so yummy Mae. And I see a bit of southwestern influence in some of your early May dishes too. I bet you had a great trip. It must have been nice to get away for a bit. Have a great T day. Hugs-Erika
Delicious looking dishes.
Happy T wishes Kathy
I can't make a choice, I would have to have a taste of everything. Come this time of year I'm so tired of sour tasting store tomatoes that I just don't buy them. When the local growers bring their crop to the farmers market I will load up and have a tomato feast. You have given me some good ideas.
Food also tastes better when enjoyed with people.
I´m drooling. But... mushrooms in tomato-sauce and cold?!
Ohhh, my last tortilla is 10 years ago! Can you give the recipe?
Ow. How can you do this?! I´m hungry now! So much great-looking (and likely tasting) food!
A patio, too, you kill me!
Oh, boy, you had fun-yummy times for sure :-)
Happy for you.
Looks like you had a wonderful trip. Your food looks very good, so yummy! Happy T Day, Valerie
Amazing how versatile the tomato is. I'm looking forward to tomatoes and cucumbers from Himself's garden. Nothing says Summer so much as a fresh tomato and cucumber sandwich. Happy T Day
All the food looks delicious! I've looked for tomato paste in tubes but don't find it in the stores. Fresh tomatoes are something we all wait for. You just can't beat them for the taste of summer. Happy T Tuesday!
Wow, so much yummy food! It all looks so fresh and delicious, loving the look of those tacos 😁. Happy June and T Day! Hugs, Jo x
Mae your food looks so delicious, I’m pleased I had already had my dinner or else I would be drooling. Looks like a great trip and I agree eating outdoors is always enjoyable. One thing I don’t even like the smell of is cilantro or coriander as we call it, I’m not sure why !
We have a lot of tomatoes growing, we use a lot as my husband always makes sauces from scratch but we do sometimes use tomatoe purée.
Happy T Day, jan
Oh my gosh - some fabulous looking food! I want to try the eggplant dumplings and all the mexican food. Really great pictures - my mouth is watering!!!!
TFS all this wonderful food and happy T-day!
Oh yummy! All that food makes me hungry. Yes, what would we do without canned tomatoes. Even in Italy we used canned tomatoes. We would buy about 100 kilos of tomatoes and process them in the garage and then put them in bottles, then the bottles are sterilized in big oil drums. It was a community thing where all the neighbors help each other. It would be a years' worth of tomatoes in bottles.
I have only visited two states in the US, that is Minnesota (I used to have a friend there) and Arizona. Arizona definitely my favorite.
If you are 'birding', how come we haven't seen any bird photos yet?
Happy T-Day, wherever you are.
Hugs,
Lisca
what a bounty of goodness
I am officially hungry, now! LOL Great post. Happy T Day!
so much good food here Mae. It's making me hungry, as I wait for hubby to start cooking our dinner. Chicken kebabs and fried potatoes! I am a keen birdwatcher too, tho i don't seem to do much of that lately. Thanks so much for joining in IMK again. It was so sad finding out about Kim. she hasn't done any IMK for ages. maybe she was ill ... all the best for June.
sherry
P.S. I've deleted one of the spammer's posts, and I'm considering the other one ...
I'm longing for real tomatoes that don't taste like styrofoam. (Same with strawberries.) I have one more package of pasta sauce I froze last year -- I almost hate to open it. Such good tomatoes last year and such a good basic sauce. Ah, soon.
I love tomatoes and the tomato theme of your recipes. Everything looks really appetizing.
My husband is a fan of coriander seeds and I frequently grind them fresh in the coffee grinder (that I don't use for coffee) and he loves to add it to soup and salad dressings.
Great food photos for the month! I can't wait for my first summer tomato, either! (It's a long wait for us here in Mass., but should start seeing some cherry tomatoes at the Farmer's Market soon, I hope.) And what a great tour guide -- providing the food like that!
It all looks amazing! I love the tomato paste in a tube, there's a sun-dried tomato one that I can find here sometimes and I like to use both as they have slightly different flavors. ;-)
so many tomatoes! it truly is the most versatile vegetable (fruit) out there for cooking and it's amazing how many different ways it can be used. I love the look of those overstuffed tacos in Tucson, so fresh with a squeeze of lime!
We did a foodie walking tour in Tuscon that was really enjoyable! And I had some delicious food in Phoenix too!
I still remember the smell of Arizona from when I went camping there as a child, all that delicious dry piney scent. Did you enjoy your birding trip? I've only just started attending birding walks here once a month.
Lots of good examples of using tomatoes. Our own won't be ready until September and I find fresh grocery store ones a poor substitute.
Definetly tomato season in your house and all the dishes look delicious, what would we do without tomatoes, so versatile. :)
my oh Mae, this is a whopper canned tomato blog post and as a veggie I love it. I am not a big fan of mushrooms, but must admit that i an tempted by the Mushrooms in a tomato sauce, and intrigued that is has to be eaten cold with cilantro.It would be most welcome today as it is really hot in the UK today.
Wow! So nice to read of your travels over your June posts and spending time with family. All your food looks so good - lots of summery optimism. So many great vegie spreads - those eggplant meatballs and the raw vegetable platter and the breakfast on the patio. Best wishes.
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