Tuesday Tip: How to cut tomatoes without crushing them

In our house we have one good knife. The one knife we spent a stupid amount of money on and is never allowed in the dishwasher. Its the only kitchen item that gets washed and placed in its own drying space every single time it's used. It is kept sharp and well cared for so its an excellent kitchen knife and cuts nearly everything very well.

NEARLY everything. 

However, it is a straight edged knife so unless you're a chef with great knife skills, it's rubbish at cutting is tomatoes. And as you can see from previous posts I've been cutting a LOT of tomatoes. In fact cutting tomatoes with our nice sharp knife is almost dangerous since the smooth skin of tomatoes makes it so easy for the blade to slip and catch an unwary finger. Then if you manage to put enough pressure to pierce the tomato skin you're faced with the soft squishy insides which crush so easily. 

The solution, the least used knife in the house, The serrated bread knife (because our bread already comes sliced its rarely out of the knife block) The serrated edges are perfect for dicing soft tomatoes without crushing them. even if you're a complete knife knovice like me.  Perfect for making a nice chunky tomato sauce or perfectly forkable pieces in a salad. 

On a related note I've still got about 2 kg of tomatoes and more on the plant. I'm running out of ideas! HELP!

Recipe: Berry Blast Ice Pops

Fantastic to keep in the fridge during the hot summer days. My Little man would come home from daycare on hot days and would do anything for a berry ice pop. They also look so cool in their bands of yellow and red. Get creative and layer the colours for more interesting effects.

Ingredients (serves 5 | makes 5 ice pops)

• 1/2 cup Full Cream milk
• 1/4 cup Yogurt
• 1 Banana
• 1 handful mixed berries (blueberries/ raspberries/ black berries)

Method

1. Mix Milk and Yogurt and split in 2 cups
2. Add banana to one cup, Add Berries to the other cup and whip till smooth
3. Fill in Ice Pop mould half full with Banana and milk mixture, freeze for above an hour.
4. Fill the rest of the ice pop mould with berries and milk mixture, freeze overnight and enjoy whenever the kids want a nice healthy snack.

How does your Garden Grow: HELP my tomatoes are taking over!

Inspired by this gardening series from Withafork.blogspot.com I've decided to provide my own little sneak peek into my adventures into veggie growing.


Remember my Egg Shell seedlings? That seems like such a long time ago but since then the combination of bright sunny days inter-spaced with heavy rain has resulted in the tomatoes totally taking over my little veggie patch.

It has even swallowed up a healthy brown onion plant which survives only because it's leaves are tall enough to grow above the tomato plants. All other seedlings (carrots and zucchini) planted in that garden bed were completely consumed.

At least we're have a bounty of Tomatoes!

I wonder if Ms Fork will swap me some eggplants. Since I can't seem to get those to grow no matter how hard I try.

What should I do with all of them? Any ideas?