Eat Well, Pregnancy Vegetable Comparison Edition: Heirloom Tomatoes

The following post was written by my mom, WWW. Thanks, mom!

One of Rebecca’s reader's (hi, Sydney!) suggested that each week we feature the vegetable or fruit that Babycenter uses to compare the weight and size of her “womb mates.” I love that idea so I am going to give it a try. I have missed 18 weeks of veggies and fruits, but will start this week and we’ll see how I do. It will be a bit challenging so bear with me!

I am rejuvenated and bursting with ideas after attending a beautiful wedding in Grass Valley, California where an unbelievable five course vegetarian meal was catered by Magpie Café in Sacramento. You can only imagine how gleeful I was when I heard that the dinner was sans all-things-animal, and when the courses kept coming, each one more amazing than the one before, I was like a little girl in a candy store. I took copious notes on the ingredients of each course, but stupidly didn’t take pictures to share. Suffice it to say, if you live in a 100-mile radius of Sacramento, you must try this restaurant. The one completely new idea that I took away from the dinner was cooking with pea tendrils, the tender young leaves and shoots of pea plants. Magpie Café made a Fettuccini dish with the pea tendrils and it was absolutely to die for. I am so excited to try some recipes with these next winter, as my pea plants have been long replaced by my summer garden and are now fully composted.

At 19 weeks, the babies are compared to heirloom tomatoes, and although it is a little early in the season to be finding them in abundance in farmer’s markets, I have started to see them in the grocery store. It is also time to plant them in most parts of the world, so I thought I would talk a little about growing them as well as using them in recipes. (See my last summer’s post for a few more tomato recipes).

According to Wikipedia, “an heirloom tomato (also called heritage tomato in the UK) is an open-pollinated (non-hybrid) heirloom cultivar of tomato.” Basically this means that they are older varieties of tomatoes that can pollinate by themselves through natural means and are not cross-pollinated with other species of tomatoes. This can lead, however, to some problems such as susceptibility to diseases and to cracking which we all have seen on heirloom tomatoes. Basically if you are going to grow them in your garden, find out which varieties do well in your area by asking other gardeners. I have had mixed luck growing them in my garden but have found two types that grow really well for me and give me a great harvest: Brandywine and Momotaro. Here is a picture of my Momotaro tomatoes last year.

And here is my Brandywine plant this year…tomatoes are already forming which is a really good sign!

Heirloom tomatoes should NEVER be refrigerated as it makes them go starchy. So, leave them on a counter out of the sun until you need them. They keep for several days, even up to a week, at room temperature unless they are badly cracked. Then they need to be eaten up rather quickly.

I eat my heirloom tomatoes raw. They are usually too juicy for cooking unless you are using them for a sauce or a soup. You can also freeze tomatoes for cooking by putting them whole in a plastic bag and then putting them into the freezer. I used them all winter in my recipes and it was so fun to have my delicious garden tomatoes reminding me of summer.

There is nothing like an open-faced hummus sandwich topped with a thick slice of heirloom tomato, fresh basil or arugula, and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. This is my go-to lunch most summer days. And then there is salsa and bruschetta (pronounced [brusˈketːa]. Home made, they are so much better than anything you can buy and are so easy to make. Make sure you use vine-ripened tomatoes, the sweeter the better. If local vine-ripened tomatoes aren’t available in your stores and farmer’s markets yet, look for Campari tomatoes sold in plastic boxes. They are delicious, very sweet and work great for both.

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Salsa (Pico de Gallo)

2 large heirloom tomatoes, 3-4 medium vine ripened tomatoes

(or a box of Campari tomatoes)

¼ cup chopped cilantro

½ cup finely chopped sweet onions

½ seeded finely chopped jalapeno (leave out if you like your salsa mild)

½ lime, freshly squeezed

Salt and pepper to taste

Chop tomatoes and let the extra juice drain out of them. Combine with the other ingredients and serve immediately. Serve as an accompaniment to any Mexican dish or serve with chips.

served on a bean tostada

NOTE: You can adjust the quantities of the ingredients to your liking. I never measure and just keep tasting it until it tastes right to me. You can use any onions but I am a big fan of sweet onions.

NOTE #2: The salsa will keep for a couple of days in the refrigerator but it will become watery.

Tomato Bruschetta

2 lbs chopped tomatoes

½ chopped onion (I like sweet)

2 cloves chopped garlic

1 bunch chopped basil

4 T olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients. Toast thick slices of Italian or French bread (or cook on a grill). Rub bread with fresh garlic clove and top with the tomato mixture. Serve as an appetizer.

VARIATIONS:

1.You can drizzle some balsamic vinegar on top if you want.

2. Add extra olive oil, 2 more garlic cloves, omit the onion, and serve on cooked pasta for an easy dinner!!

***

(These two tomato salads are so easy and are my favorite ways to use fresh tomatoes.)

Heirloom tomato salad

5-6 cups heirloom tomatoes

(you can use several colors for a fun presentation!)

¼ cup fresh basil, finely chopped

2 T balsamic or red wine vinegar

4 T extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Cut tomatoes into large chunks. Add basil. Pour vinegar and olive oil over tomatoes and basil and mix well. Add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Serve or refrigerate for several hours.

Caprese salad

Buffalo mozzarella or other FRESH mozzarella

Heirloom tomatoes, thickly sliced

Fresh basil leaves, sliced

Salt and pepper

The finest olive oil you can find

Slice tomatoes and mozzarella into thick slices. On a large platter, arrange the tomato slices with a slice of mozzarella on top. Sprinkle basil leaves all over the slices. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Serve.

These easy recipes bring out the full flavor of fresh vine-ripened heirloom tomatoes and all can be doubled, tripled, quadrupled, etc. to meet your needs.

Enjoy!

Love,

WWW

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ED: GGC now has a search function (see right sidebar) so anyone needing to search specific recipes or archived posts, you now can! Sorry it took me six years to implement such a function. Big love to all!

Nineteen Weeks

ED: I appear to have a penis in this picture but I'm just going to go with it.

Because the average twin birth delivers at thirty-six weeks and I'm optimistically hoping I'll go all the way to thirty-seven or eight... ish, I'm marking this week the halfway point. Happy half-zero'th birthday, babies!

Friday I went in for another ultrasound/appointment. My doctor's been having me come in every three+ weeks for the last couple of months because the babies are looking good and I've been feeling surprisingly fantastic.

I've put on eight pounds since my last appointment three weeks ago, (currently clocking in at 164 lbs) which is healthy for my size and considering I'm about halfway there, is right where I should be. Still. It's hard to put oneself in the mindset that gaining weight is GOOD! Pack on the pounds, sister! Healthy as it may be for the babies, I'm still a woman dammit.

The babies are flourishing - they look fantastic and happy, lots of kicking and flailing. They're positioned horizontally in my person, with their heads at each other's feet like yin and yang and baby A is backwards, so every picture thus far has been of her back. Baby B on the other hand, is face front so every time my doctor presses the ultrasound wand against my belly, this face appears like the ghost of Christmas future, her little hands waving around, like, "hello, folks!"

Baby "skeletor" B, saying hello. Check out her massive fetus brain!

Baby "nice spine" A, also brainy, although shy.

I decided against all amnios, neck fold tests et al because I was told they'd only produce an "almost accurate result" which means (to me) more distress than knowledge. Also, I'm allergic to tests. Also, I hate them. Also, no thank you.

Hal has started referring to the babies by name (by the way, they ARE indeed girls, doctor's sure of it now) which is terrifying for some reason... I think because I'm still sort of in shock every time I go to the doctor's office and there are two in there. It doesn't seem real yet even though I can feel them moving and kicking and I'm visibly Winnebagoesque.

Babies are the size of large heirloom tomatoes (six inches, head to bottom, aw) this week and according to Babycenter are trying to impress us with their extreme flexibility.

I'm getting increasingly excited that I get to mother three daughters. Girls are so much fun and although in the beginning, I'll admit, I was slightly disappointed not to have an equal penis/vagina household ratio (I love me some boy), I couldn't be more excited over the prospect of starting a Spice Girls cover band with my ladies (Zadie, our Boston Terrier has already dibbed Posh. The remaining four of us will have to draw straws).

Gotta get with our friends

It feels right, this soon-to-be-six-member posse, although, Hal and I recently had the "permanent birth control" conversation and Hal was like, "but what if we want five children someday?" and he was totally serious.

Don't worry. I slapped him in the face. Softly.

Having a big family will be fantastic, I'm sure, but four is PLEEEEEEENTY of children. For me, at least. I told Hal if he wants to knock up some other wife, he's totally allowed, but this one? Is happily retiring her uterus this holiday season.

GGC

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eighteen weeks

seventeen weeks

sixteen weeks

fifteen weeks

fourteen weeks

thirteen weeks

twelve weeks

eleven weeks

ten weeks

nine weeks

last day of five

This morning he woke up early. He ate breakfast at the table with his sister. He played with his car tracks, fought with his sister, made up with his sister, snuggled on the couch with his sister. He stayed in his pajamas past eleven, dressed himself in plaid pants and a blue shirt, waited for his dad to take him to the car museum, to watch the ball track, which they did for half the day.

We talked about his birthday cupcakes, the flavor(s) he wanted for school, which he had to repeat twice because I wasn't listening, distracted by the hiss coming through the hole in his smile, missing space from the tooth he lost last week.

***

I accidentally cried in front of him when he showed me it was loose.

"Don't worry, mom. It doesn't hurt," he said, but it did for me. Because his baby was literally falling out of him. Because I remembered so well when those teeth first came in, how he cried and cried. How I rocked him on my shoulder and he cried.

The tooth fell out days later, I was the tooth fairy, tip-toeing across the room by the glow of the night light.

How does this happen?

It just does.

***

Today I asked him how he felt about being six tomorrow.

"This is your last day of five," I said.

"Nooooooo!!!! I don't want to grow up!"

Me either so I had to convince us both.

"But growing up is great! It's the best!"

"Why?"

Because you get to become more interesting and you get to learn and help and teach and be a better person. You get to fall in love and learn to drive a car and go to dances and have your first kiss. You get to be an art scientist if you want or a builder or fly to the moon. You get to eat ice cream for breakfast, stay up all night, wander around the world and meet strange and interesting people. You get to have children and name them Archer and love them so much you think you might possibly explode into a new universe.

We worked on tying his shoes. Archer's homework assignment this week was to set a goal to meet by Sunday and all through the week, including today, we went over knots and bunny ears, mastered the whole thing except for the very last step. I showed him what to do and he tried, over and over again, both of us equally frustrated until finally, he exploded into a fit of cries and screams and "IT'S TOO HARD! I CAN'T DO IT!'s and I took the stupid shoe and threw it across the room.

"No more!" I said. "We're done."

A few minutes later I came back. And we sat on the couch side by side for a long time before I got up to pick up the shoe, handed it to him and we kept going. Bunny ear, around the world and through the hole to pull...

***

For dinner he ate fish sticks and broccoli and Hal made him a hot fudge sundae for dessert.

"How does it feel to be almost six?" Hal asked.

"But I'm still five," he said back.

***

We're having a party for him next weekend but he didn't want to invite anyone from school, not even his best friends. He wanted a bouncie in the backyard with a slide and family only, no friends allowed.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, mom. I'm sure."

I love him so much for that. For being himself, little man stuck in the body of a boy who doesn't want to grow up, yet in so many ways already has. The other day he called himself my sun, told me his three sisters were like moons, that without him, there would be only moonlight, which is so totally true. Without him, there would be no us. No Fable. No family. No house. No nothing.

Tomorrow he will be six years old and I will be six years a mother and we will be six years a family.

Or as Archer says, "onto the second hand of things"...

"I'm sorry I threw the shoe across the room. That wasn't right."

"I'm sorry I can't tie my shoes yet. I need to be more patient."

Onto the second hand...

It was just another day, today. Much like tomorrow will be even though it so isn't. Not for him or me or any of us. Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Archer, happy birthday to you... Life will continue to move forward, cupcakes will be devoured, teeth will fall out of mouths, Archer will tie his shoes. In the meantime, we'll continue to eat Hal's sundaes, love each other, grow up. Because those things can't be stopped. Not time. Not love. (Not ice cream.)

Every day we must force ourselves to let go of what was to make way for what is, what will someday be: another birthday he'll someday want to celebrate without us. Friends only, no family allowed.

But not yet.

Tonight, like he says, he's still five.

GGC