I absolutely LOVE the phone/camera bag that I have from this line.  It's sold by a great deal site, Mini Bargainz, that has great deals and every day is a new one.  Check out The Budget Mommy for this great giveaway!

http://www.thebudgetmommy.com/home/2010/10/28/my-oilcloth-messenger-bag-giveaway.html?lastPage=true#comment10344130

I grew up in the heart of the midwest.  St. Louis, to be exact.  In the 80's and 90's.  For me, "Fried Green Tomatoes" was a movie.  I didn't even have my first one until we moved to Louisville.  While Louisville is pretty much touching the Mason-Dixon line, it is considered the South.  Do you get more southern than KFC and the Derby?  Anyway, that's where I enjoyed this amazing delicacy for the first time.  While I have tried my hand at it a few times with the green tomatoes from my husband's garden, for some reason they never quite worked out right.

Until now.

The funny thing is, we only had 1 tomato to work with and I knew I wanted to try it wheat and egg free, which meant no breadcrumbs and no eggs for the breading.  Yikes.  Then I remembered that the ones I had eaten that were SO yummy had a kind of panko bread crumb on them.  I had a box of corn flake crumbs (which they seem like they might be more expensive than the regular corn flakes, but they were actually about the same price by weight) so I thought I'd try that.  Here is the recipe that resulted from that brainchild and they were amazing!  Very light and crispy and the breading stuck!  The sad part was that my normally non-picky 2 year old didn't like them.  He was the whole reason I made them with corn flakes to begin with!  Oh well.  That left more for me and daddy!

These are made with Kellogg's brand Corn Flake crumbs.  I can't call these gluten-free because Corn Flakes contain barley malt as an ingredient, so if you are gluten intolerant, you may want to try a true, gluten-free bread crumb or make crumbs from gluten-free crackers.

This recipe is for 1 large, green tomato.  Multiply as needed.

In one bowl, combine:
1/2 cup gluten-free flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

In another bowl:
1/2 cup milk

In a third bowl:
1/4 cup corn flakes, crushed
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

In a frying pan, heat 2 cups of canola oil until a piece of breading that's dropped in sizzles a little, or until the temperature reads 375.  You want to keep it at this temperature so that you will get a crispy crust and not a soggy, greasy one.  If you have a deep fryer, knock yourself out. :)

Remove the stem of the tomato and slice into 1/4 inch slices parallel to where the stem was.  Dip each slice in the flour mixture, then the milk and finally, the crumb mixture.  Fry slices for 3-4 minutes or until the first side is a golden brown.  Flip with tongs and fry until the second side is the same color.  It will not take as long.  Transfer to paper towel lined plate and sprinkle with additional salt or parmesan.

I made a dipping sauce to go with it that was pretty good, but I'm not sure that you can get the Durkee sauce anywhere but St. Louis.  Which I'm very sorry for, because it was very good!  You could probably dip the tomatoes in Ranch or Thousand Island dressing and it would be good.

1 TB Miracle Whip Light
1 tsp. spicy brown mustard
1 tsp. Durkee sauce

Mix ingredients until well blended.  Dip to your hearts content. :)

This can be adapted to whatever you have in your garden.  The next time I make it, it will probably be totally different, but that's OK.  Eating what you have on hand and what's in season is the best way to get your veggies!

Makes 4 servings

1 medium zucchini, thinly sliced
1 medium yellow squash, thinly sliced
1 small bell pepper, any color, thinly sliced
1 pound cherry tomatoes, halved
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
1 TB butter
8 oz. (dry) whole wheat pasta (of gluten free, if you need to), prepared according to package
Salt and pepper to taste
Pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)
Shaved parmesan, for topping
Nonstick cooking spray

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

1.  Spray 2 cookie sheets with cooking spray.
2.  In one bowl, toss zucchini, squash and peppers with 1 TB of olive oil and add salt and pepper to taste.  Transfer to cookie sheet.
3.  In a separate bowl, toss cherry tomatoes with 1 TB olive oil and add salt and pepper to taste.  Transfer to other cookie sheet.
4.  I know it might seem like this is crazy to use 2 cookie sheets.  The tomatoes will release a TON of juice, while the other veggies will tend to roast a little more and get caramelized and a little drier.  It won't work the same if you mix them all together.  Just sayin'. :)
5.  Roast veggies in oven for about 25-30 minutes, checking every 10 minutes to stir.  Add the garlic to the tomatoes and leave them in an extra 5, just to dry up some of the juice.  If you add the garlic before that, it may burn and it will be nasty.
6.  Toss pasta with 1 TB of butter and 2 TB of oil.  Mix with veggies and pinch of red pepper flakes (optional).  Top with Parmesan shavings and enjoy warm!

The roasted veggies were HEAVEN!  I almost couldn't believe it.  It was as close to eating vegetable candy as you could get.  But in the words of LeVar Burton, "You don't have to take my word for it!"  Try it!