tomatoes

I was recently sent a new kitchen gadget to review – which means I’ve been walking a little straighter, smiling a little more, and continually humming, “What a Wonderful World.”

Yeah, this gal loves kitchen gadgets.

The source of the humming this time around is the Amco Tomato Slicer. Ingenious!

We eat a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot of tomatoes – year round, really, but never more so than during the summer. We eat the ones from our own garden and we buy regularly from local farmers’ trucks. Our farmers and their families feed our country and tend our land – the least we can do is buy from them on a regular basis.

We also love cheese in our home – so a Tomato Mozzarella Slicer was a perfect fit for our kitchen.

It’s fantastic! I’ve used it for red tomatoes, green tomatoes, and mozzarella. It keeps my hands clean and gives my knives a day off. Giving knives a vacation day is just a good managerial strategy – keeps them sharp, you know.

My oldest daughter (Emily) has a fierce allergy to touching tomatoes – her hands break out when she comes into contact with the juices. This kitchen gadget would be ideal for anyone with such an allergy. They could slice tomatoes for their family and give hydro-cortisone the day off as well.

The Tomato Mozzarella Slicer creates uniform, attractive tomato slices for sandwiches, burgers, and salads. It also allows you to slice green tomatoes perfectly for fried green tomatoes – a staple in my kitchen.

Here’s a fresh, quick, delicious, and easy recipe to try for a change of pace from traditional salads:

Quick & Easy Tomato Mozzarella Salad

Slice a couple of tomatoes and a ball of mozzarella. Lie them on a platter in an attractive manner – fanning them out mozzarella, tomato, mozzarella, tomato, etc. Then drizzle (or mist) lightly with extra virgin olive oil. Now, sprinkle fresh basil over the mozzarella and tomatoes. Outstanding!

This type of quick salad is as healthy as it is good – it adheres to the basics of the Mediterranean Diet, which is always a great way to eat. It’s perfect served alongside soup, spaghetti, lasagna, manicotti, or any Italian recipe you can think of. It also makes a healthy snack for watching television or playing games.

Product Description for this Kitchen Gadget

Slice tomatoes into uniform 1/4-inch thick slices with one easy motion. Create perfect slices every time for hamburgers, sandwiches, salads and more. Simply position tomato in holder, center slicing blades above tomato and press down. Slicer can even cut mozzarella for perfect caprese salad. ABS with stainless steel blades. By Amco. With unique, patented kitchen products Amco’s devotion to innovation has driven new industry standards and redefined categories. They continue to revolutionize the market with ingenious gadgets that simplify and enhance the culinary experience. With a team of in-house designers whose sole purpose is to conceptualize and design new kitchen tools, Amco continues to be at the forefront of innovative, efficient and timeless kitchenware products.

Head over to Amazon for a closer look and to order your’s today: Tomato Mozzarella Slicer

The tomato scare is certainly getting a lot of attention, isn’t it? I don’t remember the FDA being quite this cautious with foods in the past. Tomatoes are being pulled from restaurant menus as well as grocery shelves. This particular, and unusual, type of salmonella is called salmonella saintpaul.

Monday morning, the FDA reported there have been 145 reported cases of salmonella saintpaul since mid-April. It’s been identified in Washington, Oregon and 15 other states. Twenty-three people have been hospitalized.

By day’s end, though, the number shot up to 166.

Federal officials have said that cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, tomatoes sold with the vine still attached and homegrown tomatoes are likely not the source of the outbreak. It seems to me that most people are avoiding ALL tomatoes, just to be safe.

I really, really, really feel badly for farmers. The economy’s bad enough without them having this hit them. What a terrible waste. It makes me want to go to the Farmer’s Markets and buy even more of everything else. Oh, yeah, I see me spending a lot of time at roadside stands – even more than usual.