Sneaky

I love fresh tomatoes.

Big, thick, juicy slices of red, ripe tomato, sprinkled with salt and freshly ground pepper. Not much better!

Or thinner slices in a BLT: Crisp, salty, smokey bacon with lush tomato and crisp lettuce on toast and slathered with mayo or miracle whip.

Thickly sliced on a plate with ranch dressing on top. Or with olive oil and red wine vinegar - MMMMMM!

One of the biggest (in many senses of the word) garden pests is the tomato hornworm. They can decimate a tomato plant overnight! And if you get more than one on a plant, watch out! Big nasty green buggers! I went out for a small break from work this morning and thought hmmmmmm . . . one of our tomato plants looks rather strange. I went and looked and found . . .




Yup - tomato hornworms. I hate these things. They are just plain nasty. And hard to see! They say the best time is to check your plants at night with a flashlight. They don't like sun, so they hide during the day and do most of their eating at night. I immediately checked all of the other tomato plants and found another one onthe next plant over. I found evidence on 2 of the other plants, but could not find the worms. Then I happened to check the pepper plants. Yup, found 2 on there. One poor pepper plant only had 1 leaf left!! Greedy so-and-so's! We took and threw them onto the parsley plants, as we have an overabundance of that and don't care if they eat it all!

Well, if you can harvest some ripe tomatoes without the worms eating them all, here is a super quick recipe for ya! No pics of this one, sorry!

Crunch-Top Tomatoes

Tip: DO NOT make this in a cast-iron skillet. It will turn nasty.

2 Large, ripe tomatoes
1 sleeve Ritz crackers,crushed (can use club crackers)
4 Tablespoons butter (1/2 a stick), melted
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese (can use any cheese here)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 small onion, chopped fine
Italian seasoning to taste

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in skillet. Slice tomatoes into thin wedges. Saute garlic and onion just until limp. Lay tomatoes on top in single layer. Saute lightly, turning once. In a bowl, mix salt, pepper, cracker crumbs, cheese and seasoning. Melt remaining butter in a bowl. Sprinkle cracker crumb mixture over tomatoes and drizzle with remaining butter. Let cook about another 3-5 minutes, just until your cheese gets melty. Do not turn or stir. Serve forth! This makes a great side for roasted chicken!