July 31-August 3 - Night away, stuffed tomatoes & more

It was another busy weekend in the Risser household! On Saturday Linds and I traveled to my brother-in-law and sister-in-law's place in Lancaster for a visit and evening out. Linds got to stay up late with her cousins and play with all of their "super duper duper duper cool" toys while my BIL and I hit the town for a show at a local club. We had dinner with them Saturday (corn on the cob and some fantastic grilled shrimp) and then brunch the next morning (a crab and egg white quiche). My BIL's culinary skills put mine to shame, so squeezing two meals out of him was a real treat! Plus, it delayed grocery shopping a few more days...yessss ;-)

On Sunday, Linds started vacation bible school, so we made it an easy dinner night with hot dogs and chips. VBS lasts through Thursday (and they serve dinner before it starts), so my cooking is quite limited this week. On Monday I did make myself a stuffed tomato with a neighbor's garden-fresh tomato. They take mere minutes to make and only need to cook for about 30 or 40 minutes. Very simple!

Stuffed Tomatoes
Ingredients
1 large tomato, top cut off and "gutted"
1/3 cup bread crumbs
2 tablespoons butter
Oregano
Garlic powder
Salt
Pepper
Basil
Rosemary
(and any other spice you like to give it a little extra flavor)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Cut off the top of the tomato and scoop out the "guts" and seeds.
3. Soften butter and mix with bread crumbs.
4. Add spices according to taste to bread crumbs and transfer into tomato.
5. Bake 35-40 minutes.

When I make mine, I like to use whole wheat bread crumbs and add a little flaxseed in it for the omega-3 and fiber benefits. Recent studies have shown that flaxseed may have a protective effect against such cancers as breast, prostate and colon (breast and colon both run in my family over the course of the last three generations). It also helps reduce cardiovascular disease and inflammation. I add it to dishes here and there and it doesn't affect the taste.