Recipe: Stuffed Tomatoes

Man, I tell you... some of you all saw those stuffed tomatoes in a recent post and cried out for the recipe.

*crickets*

Uh, ok... wasn't expecting that. But I will oblige such a request.

Keep in mind that I am NOT Betty LadyLee Crocker. So take this recipe with a grain of salt. Please.

Well, the recipe didn't start out as a stuffed tomato recipe. Oh, I'd bought a gang of organic tomatoes, at a steal of $1.99/pound, with the idea of stuffing them, but I wasn't all that sure what I would stuff them with.

I think the night before I had a really good stir-fry


A good one chocked full of fresh cut veggies: onions, red bell peppers, celery, green bell peppers, zuchinni, squash, tomatoes and broccoli. And as you can see, I have chickpeas there also.

I placed it all in a bowl and chowed down, man...

But it felt like something was missing: some crunch. So I added a bunch of cashews.

Looking back at it all, that was actually stupid. There was no need for the cashews, because the chickpeas provide a slight crunch to it all... but whatever. I'm not going to get bogged down in semantics. It was GOOD. That is all.

However, I cut up enough veggies to where I had a small ziploc bag of veggies leftover. So I stuck these raw veggies in the fridge for later use.

And that later use involved using them for stuffed tomatoes.

Like I said, I came across some good organic tomatoes for about $1.99/pound, so I bought 8 to 10 of them (I can't remember how many). Some were used for juicing, and the remaining 6 were used for stuffed tomatoes.

So here is the recipe.

1/2 cup of each of the following veggies.

yellow squash, cubed (1/2 inch cubes)
zuchinni squash, cubed (1/2 inch cubes)
onion, julienned strips
green bell peppers, strips
red bell peppers, strips
broccoli, cut up

1/4th cup of celery (I don't care for celery in my stir fries that much but it was just... there in the fridge)

1/4th cup of carrots, julienned.

6 whole tomatoes, tops cut and hollowed out (to that with a spoon. Not a knife. Please and thank you).




(Save the part of the tomato you removed. Cube it up and use it in the stirfry later)

1 and 1/2 cups of cold cooked rice (I have a mixed brown rice that I use that has wild rice and three other types of brown rice mixed in. For some odd reason, I don't like plain brown rice. Yuck. But use whatever rice you like, whether brown or white).

1 tspn of cumin
1 tspn of curry
1 tspn of italian seasoning
1 tspn of red pepper flakes
1/2 tspn salt
2 tbspn extra virgin olive oil

That's a pretty typical stirfry for me, sans the celery. Like I said, the celery was just... there. And my stirfries are typically anything that's in the fridge. I forgot to add the carrots, which I like for color.

And I can cut all that stuff up in 5 minutes. *LadyLee the ginsu ninja*

Also, if you want to add meat, then do that. Use 1 cup of meat. That is all.

But hey... you work that out.

Method

Note: Whether it be chicken, shrimps, beef, pork, seafood, goat or spam, sautee your meat beforehand in the oil, then set your meat to the side in a bowl. Use the fat that drains from the meat as the oil you stirfry your veggies in. I didn't do all that. Ya'll know I try to stay plant-based, and leave the meat at the door.)

1. Heat the oil in a hot skillet.
2. Add all veggies EXCEPT the broccoli and cubed tomato cores.
3. Saute the veggies until that they start to brown (I like mine to carmelize, get a little burn on them without getting mushy. That takes skill. Don't mess that up. Please and thank you).
4. Add all spices.
5. Add cold rice. Continie stirring.
6. Finally add, chopped broccoli and tomato cores. Sautee on medium heat for another 5 minutes, until the broccoli becomes bright green.
7. At this point, if you're using meat, add your meat back to the stirfry.

Here's how my stirfry looked.



7. Stuff the tomatoes.



8. Place tops on tomato.



Cubicle Mate CowgirlCre was NOT pleased with the stickers being left on the tomatoes. NOT pleased at all. Don't worry, I removed them.


I can't have ya'll laughing at me, Man.

9. Bake the tomatoes in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes.

Actually that may be too long. Maybe 20 minutes. I overdid it. Those tomatoes get mushy pretty fast. So I think a tell-tell sign for when the tomatoes need to come out is when you see the tops start to wrinkle a bit. I think that is good enough.

These came out really good. If I catch the tomatoes on sale like that again, you know I will be making them again.

I also like to stuff peppers in the same way.

I'm going to stuff squash and zuchinni soon. (cut lengthwise, and make boats). I think this recipe goes well for stuffing anything, and it's a great way to get your veggies in.

I gave Lady Liftetime 2 stuffed tomatoes. She sprinkled cheese on top of hers...

And with these having some italian flare to them with that italian seasoning... I KNOW that had to be good-t!

So there's your recipe...

Please feel free to adjust as necessary. I think with this recipe, you will have some stuffing left over. I like to just eat it as a side dish later in the week. And of course, you may not like some of the ingredients. Or you may want to add more.

That is up to you. Have it your way, babes!

This recipe has been brought to you by your friendly neighborhood Oldgirl LadyLee!

Enjoy:)