Food From the past

My friend Bill Moran grew up in rural America. (boy was he lucky). So am I with friends like Bill and living the rural life.
 Bill talked about his mother quite often. I never met her, but listing to Bill she was one heck of a great cook. Now we know where Bill got his love for food and cooking. Fresh tomatoes are in season right now. So lets get cooking. Here is a recipe that is from Bill's Mom. I have made this recipe and believe me it is a good one. Hope you try it.

On the farm we had a big garden and so many tomatoes we fed them to the hogs as well as ourselves. I’m not sure Breaded Tomatoes is a good name, but that’s what we called them. They make a quick meal using day-old bread and we really love ‘em. This is a dish that begs for experimenting (Romano cheese, hot sauce, etc.). I found a recipe online which sounds the same but is called Scalloped Tomatoes. Bill Moran

Thelma’s Breaded Tomatoes


3 Tbs. stick margarine

½ tsp. salt

1-1/2 tsp. sugar

1 (28 oz.) can Roma tomatoes, cut up

½ cup chopped onion

3 slices day-old bread, cubed

Lots of coarse ground black pepper

Sauté onions in margarine until translucent. Add bread cubes and fry

until lightly browned tossing now and then. Combine tomatoes, sugar,

salt and pepper. Layer tomatoes and bread in greased 1-1/2 quart

casserole, beginning with tomatoes and ending with bread. Bake in oven

at 350° for 50 minutes. Servings: 4 hungry; 6 easy-eaters.

This is a depression recipe. Mom used fresh garden tomatoes or

tomatoes she had canned. First she used bacon drippings, and then

when margarine came along she used it. Experiment: Use olive oil for

margarine or mix. Use French bread (she used homemade light bread.

A touch of basil or oregano sounds good, too.