Fried Green Tomatoes with Avocado Ranch

I have stink bugs. Apparently, they are like little buggy vampires. They suck the life out of tomatoes and leave the flavorless remains behind for me. What does one do about this? Standing in the yard wearing a garlic necklace while holding a cross and throwing holy water will probably only serve to earn me the craziest neighbor award - which in my neighborhood would be quite the accomplishment. The novice gardener that I am, I resorted to using the only bug killer I know - Seven Dust. So much for organic gardening.

Since I don't have any ripe tomatoes worth eating and to console my gardening woes, I made fried green tomatoes. And to make it even more comforting, I made an avocado ranch dressing for dipping. Isn't it a pretty color?

For Tomatoes:

• 3-4 green tomatoes, sliced semi-thick 
• about 1/2 cup corn meal
• about 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• flour
• 1 egg
• about 1/4 milk  or buttermilk
• cajun seasoning
•  pinch of salt 
• oil for frying 

For Dressing:

• 1 ripe avocado
• about 1/2 ranch dressing
• 1 tbsp fresh cilantro
• about a tsp or so of cajun seasoning 
• a few splashes of hot sauce 

 Mix the corn meal, bread crumbs, salt, and some cajun seasoning on a plate. Put some flour on another plate and in a bowl beat an egg and the milk. Lightly coat the tomatoes in flour and then dip in the egg and finally coat them with the bread crumbs and corn meal. Make sure the oil is nice and hot and fry on each side until nicely brown. Remove from pan and place on some paper towels to catch some of the excess oil. 

Dressing: In a food processor combine all ingredients and blend until smooth. How easy is that? 


May all your gardens be stinkbug free.