Fresh Tomatoes

I love various pastas in tomato sauce, it is one of my favorite meals! Last night I cooked spaghetti, I like mine super saucy, where the noodles are covered and swimming in tomato goodness. I like making homemade sauce, but I love me some Ragu when I am wanting an easy and cheap dinner. I had some in the cabinet of course so I used that tonight, the Six Cheese flavor which is amazing! But I had some fresh red and yellow tomatoes in the fridge, so I diced them up and threw them in! YUM!

The delicious juiciness reminded me of my childhood. I moved all over this state it feels like, a total of like 20 times in my only 21 years of life.. We moved due to my mother's constant husband battles. For a couple of years from approx. ages like 6-9 we lived in Ripley, TN across the street from her in-laws at the time. This is the tomato town of west TN, all of the south probably, they even have tomato festivals...everything revolves around tomatoes in this town! Mom's in-laws of course lived on acres upon acres of tomato farmland, which we had to help pick. I will never forget those long summer days where we picked tomatoes until our fingers were raw. Then we'd make the walk back carrying buckets full of those ripe red goodies! The best part, which I can only now appreciate, was sitting on the porch as the sun went down eating those sun-warmed tomatoes with a glass of ice cold tea. We'd eat tomatoes in everything, with everything, there would always be sliced tomatoes on the table with every meal. One of my favorite sandwiches was a Peanut Butter and Tomato sandwich, sounds odd I know but the sweet and tart mix was heavenly. And of course you can never beat a Tomato, S&P, and Mayo sandwich! My mouth is watering just thinking about it. I am having a Turkey, Tomato, S&P, Mayo, and Sprout sandwich for lunch today, excited! I love food and hope this post inspires you to eat more tomatoes!

(And if you are ever able to get your hands on some fresh Ripley tomatoes...you'll be spoiled.)