Thursday, September 17, 2015

Tomato Sandwiches

One fond memory of my childhood is eating tomato sandwiches.

I was the second oldest of seven children growing up on a small farm in Oregon's Willamette Valley. We didn't have much, but we usually ate well, thanks in part to raising our own meat, milk, and eggs, and growing a big vegetable garden. 

August and September were time for home grown corn on the cob and tomatoes! We could make a whole meal out of those two garden treats.

Now, about those tomato sandwiches.  They are not something we could take in our lunch as we worked in the fields in August, picking beans, or that we could take in our school lunch boxes in September.  No, tomato sandwiches have to be eaten fresh, tomatoes thickly sliced, generously sprinkled with salt, between two slices of buttered soft white bread. Yum!

So these tomato treats were reserved for when we were at home, maybe a Saturday lunch is we had the day off, but especially for Sunday night supper. Our big meal on Sunday was after church in the early afternoon.  Supper was light on cooking, a relief for our mother. 

I was thinking about those sandwiches the other day as I passed by the baskets of tomatoes sitting on the counter.
 See those big ones on the left? They are Caspian Pinks, vine ripened, and they were calling to me, "Put me in a sandwich!"  Now I don't eat a lot of bread anymore, so I have resisted them until now, but the other day I gave in.  
 It's not quite the same as the good old days.  I don't buy that soft white bread any more.  But the fresh-out-of-the-freezer whole wheat worked pretty well. I just used those two big middle slices and gave the rest to Tom for his lunch. 
 I added a fresh pear from our little tree, and sat down to a great lunch.  Mmmmmm, tomato sandwiches. 
I'm back to eating my tomatoes with cottage cheese now, but I might have to indulge at least once more before tomato season is over. 

14 comments:

  1. You hit all the hot buttons. Yes, I was raised on exactly the same food. It was a lot of work to prepare but excellent stuff. My tomato sandwich is toasted with cheeze whiz!

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  2. Yes, I finally got one big tomato off the Cherokee Purple that I grew this year. It's sitting on my counter begging me to buy some bread and cheese. I like my tomato sandwiches with cheese and mayo, on sourdough, grilled with butter. So good, but also so very bad for me.

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  3. tomato sandwiches are what it's all about. we love them here. i bake white bread and we slather mayo on them. yum!

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  4. Amazing how popular a tomato sandwich is whatever part of the world you are from.

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  5. There's nothing like a tomato sandwich made from a garden fresh tomato. I've indulged in a couple this season, since the tomatoes are so amazing. Love your pictures; they made me hungry. :-)

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  6. Nice flash back to a lovely time.
    That sandwich looks delicious.

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  7. looks yummy, we have to go to a farmer's market to get decent tasting tomatoes...

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  8. Yum! It made me laugh that you took the best slices of bread from the middle. That's something I would do. I'd also be adding bacon to that sandwich. :-)

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  9. I always eat my tomatoes plain as in all by themselves with a bit of salt. My Mother always cooked them up and canned them and put the sauce on macaroni...yuk:(

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  10. Nothing compares to a ripe tomato still sun warm from the garden. Yummy!

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  11. I have never had a tomato sandwich. Now you have me thinking I have been missing out. Those were awesome looking tomatoes.

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  12. I love tomato sandwiches too. And of course right now we are eating lots of Cottage cheese and Tomatoes and avocados---very yummy.
    Your sandwich looks very good.
    MB

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  13. Yum! Nothing beats a tomato sandwich made with home grown ripe tomatoes. The ones from the store just don't cut it.

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  14. I was never a big tomato fan like my mom but I ummmmmm..... did like BLTS. This looks scrumptious and nutritious.

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