Nope, don't peel them, just chop 'em up. Yellowish is OK, even a little pink, but if they're starting to change more than that, you're going to affect the flavor. Not that I ever cared, "green tomato mincemeat" always was good and all those spices, sugar and raisins made it OK. (grin)

Annie

My MIL used to make the best green tomato pie! No raisins!

Thank you, thank you!

What recipe??? Where??

Have green toms, need recipes!!

:+)

Deanna

Deanna, check the link to see the helpful answers they gave me in a previous thread...

I had a wonderful recipe for green tomato muffins once, but I can't find it! Maybe in a Taste of Home magazine...I'll have to look.

Here is a link that might be useful: discussion with green tomato recipes

rhome, I have this recipe for green tomato bread, but I've not tried it yet, is it close?

GREEN TOMATO BREAD
Servings: 2 LOAVES
1C. OIL,
3 EGGS, BEATEN,
2C. SUGAR,
1 TSP. VANILLA,
2C. DICED GREEN TOMATOES,
3C. FLOUR,
1/2 TSP. BAKING POWDER,
1/4 TSP. BAKING SODA,
1C. CHOPPED NUTS.

ADD OIL TO EGGS, SUGAR, VANILLA, AND TOMATOES. ADD DRY INGREDIENTS TO MIXTURE AND BLEND WELL. STIR IN NUTS. POUR INTO 2 GREASED LOAF PANS. BAKE @ 350 FOR 40-45 MINUTES.

Annie

It's probably close. It was pretty much like zucchini or carrot bread or muffins. They're probably all pretty close except for maybe adjustments for the differing moisture contents of the veggies...or do you think they're all pretty close and could be substituted for each other? Thank you!

Truthfully, rhome, I think they're all pretty close and I'd just wilfully sub one for the other and see how it came out.

Now, I know that other people here will chime in about how you shouldn't substitute and ratios of wet to dry and how everything should be weighed/measured/sifted. I think we all have different styles of cooking and I tend to be impulsive and just slap stuff together. Once in a while I have a spectacular failure but most times it's somewhere between just fine and pretty good, LOL.

Annie

We sound like we're on the same wave length, Annie...Try it and see what happens...Adjust if/when necessary. I notice bread recipes that weigh every ingredient, but I go by 'feel.' The same recipes that are so precise, weight-wise, talk about how climate and weather can change things...So why is going by precise weight so helpful? I get confused by it all sometimes...

I tend to 'wing it' too. And I can only think of ONE meal, EVER that was inedible. The down side is that I can rarely repeat a great dish!

Certain things are "just made" for cleaning out the fridge....i.e. casseroles, meatloaf, soup, etc.

I'll be trying the bread and pie later this week!

Deanna

rhome, I think bread is one thing that cannot be successfully made by weight, the same thing, every time. Ratios depend on the brand of flour, the humidity, the recipe, the way my hair looks when I got up in the morning. Well, maybe not that last thing, LOL, but a lot of factors.

I can only bake bread by feel, sometimes I add more flour, sometimes more liquid. My technique depends on the type of yeast I have on hand and how impatient I am. Grandma taught me to cook by feel and by how "it looks". What's more, taste is much more important to me than appearance, and that factors into my "style" of cooking, much like my theory that no matter how good the food is, it doesn't make up for lousy company, LOL. I'll pass up filet mignon with a self-important bore for a peanut butter sandwich with someone smart and funny.

So, you have a zucchini bread recipe you LOVE and no zucchini? I'd just go ahead and use the green tomatoes. Actually, I was thinking more along the same texture and sour flavor as rhubarb, so if you have a rhubarb recipe you love, green tomatoes might make a good sub!

Deanna, you weren't taught to cook by one of those Grandmothers, like mine, were you? (grin)

Annie

I am eating an "apple raisin" cake...made with pears and craisins.

I am used to 'recipes" that call for "enough flour to work it up", water until it holds together, flour to make a fairly stiff batter, saute in "some" butter, add some chopped onion etc.
I have no patience for recipes that call for "one onion chopped"...how big an onion? baseball size? Soft ball size? Golf ball?
Or a "bunch of green onions"...
It's the subjectivity of cooking that makes someone a good cook and another mediocre.

I wonder if I could substitute for the pears, that were really supposed to be apples and make the same recipe into a rhubarb cake if I used chopped green tomatoes?
Linda C

I never thought about a similarity of green tomatoes to rhubarb! I'll have to think about that. I certainly have no shortage of zucchini at the moment...

I think we're all on the same page. My mom taught me about the 'right feel' of bread. My kids are happiest when they ask what I'm making for dinner and I say "I'm not sure, I'm inventing." I made bread yesterday and needed to come up with something to eat for dinner with it. Instead of being limited to leftovers to create, I went to the garden and started throwing things together. I am very much a 'taste over beauty' person, too.

My dd has been inventing since I came in the kitchen when she was 4 or 5, and she was 'making cookies' with Grape Nuts, jam, and chocolate chips! She now creates very yummy cheesecakes from her head...I've never even tried one with a recipe. She does this with sewing, too, making things like prom dresses for herself without a pattern. I kept thinking that a big failure of some sort would teach her she needed to start with some basics, but it keeps not happening! :-) She's shown the other kids that cooking and sewing are not scary, and it's best (and fun) to dive right in.

No, Annie, unfortunately, my grandmother on mom's side worked in a factory and the three daughters did most of the cooking. Grandma on dad's side believed children should be seen and not heard, much less 'allowed' to participate in food preparation. Too bad, because she made absolutely THE BEST pie crust I've ever eaten! Maybe that's why I'm never happy with mine, the bar was set pretty high at a very young age.

Mom cooked, baked, canned, gardened, etc. but mostly as a more economical way to care for our family (yes, it USED to be economical!!) LOL.

I did spend a lot of time baking with mom. Then when I was in high school, she took a job 45 miles from home and worked an 8 to 5 schedule. It became my job to get dinner started....

I don't think she ever really enjoyed "playing" in the kitchen like I do.

LindaC: Sure you can! Who's gonna stop ya??? :+)

Deanna

I couldn't possibly use up all the green tomatoes we have. We're buried in them.

If you want to take a peek at some other green tomato recipes, the Foodday section of today's Oregonian has a feature on them.

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: We Love Green Tomatoes