Keep asking Questions

Today, I have another question to answer and a link to a great article on families eating meals together at home.

Let's start with the questions.  Several have asked what is the easiest way to seed tomatoes.  There are a fair number of recipes that ask for tomatoes without the seeds.

There are two basic shapes to tomatoes.  Most tomatoes are basically round.  The easiest way to remove the seeds from these in my opinion is to core the tomato after you have washed them.  Then slice them in half separating the top from the bottom of the tomato.  Now take each half, one at a time, in the palm of your hand with the cut side up.  Holding on to the tomato, turn your hand upside down with the cut side facing down over the sink or a bowl.  Squeeze the tomato sides together and the seeds should drop out of the tomato into the sink or bowl.  Rinse the inside of the tomato under running water and set aside.  Repeat the process until you have removed the seeds from all the tomatoes you needed for the recipe.

Roma tomatoes are more pear shaped and require a slightly different procedure.  Again wash the tomatoes and slice off the top about a half inch down.  Now slice the tomato in half from top to bottom.  Place the tomato half in your hand cut side up.  Turn your hand over and squeeze the sides together for the seeds to drop out.  You may need the assistance of a teaspoon to scrape loose the insides.  Do this over a sink or bowl and then rinse out the insides and set aside.  Repeat procedure with remaining tomatoes.

You can peel the tomatoes first if it is needed for a recipe.  To do that after washing and coring the tomatoes, cut a small X in the bottom of the tomato and place them in a pot of boiling water.  Remove from the boiling water after a minute to two and place in an ice bath.  An ice bath is just a sink or bowl of cold water with ice cubes in it.  Let the tomatoes sit in the bath for up to 5 minutes and the skin should come off quite easily.  Use a paring knife if needed to help pull the skin off.  Once you have done this continue with the procedure stated above for removing the seeds.

I have preached over the years that a family needs to make all the effort needed to plan as many meals as possible at home.  I truly believe that family meals help everyone involved.  I know from experience as well as observation that it is difficult because of everyone's chaotic schedule.  However, it is still very important to get as many meals together and so it takes a little planning.  Mix them up if needed and try to have at least one meal from each meal time during a week.

The TV show, Blue bloods, has a family tradition of Sunday dinner and shows how important it is to each family member.  This dinner is for 4 generations of the family.

Check out the link below to what I stated earlier is a great article on families sharing meals together at home.

http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition_articles.asp?id=439