Funny how the mind works sometimes, but I was preparing some green beans given to us by our neighbour today and found myself thinking………..
Yes, I know that can be dangerous, but it did make we wonder why I was doing things the way I was.
Have you ever thought why we peel things a specific way, or prepare things for the freezer or cooking? I topped the beans, skimmed the sides, and proceeded to cut them into slices diagonally. Why? Does it improves the flavour or lock in the bean so that it doesn’t fall out in the cooking process? Even frozen green beans, unless stated as ‘whole beans’ in which case they are a different variety to runner beans as I was preparing today, are cut into ‘diamond’ shapes.
The only answer I could come up with was because this was the way my mother used to do it. Any thoughts?
And here’s another one.
Can we have too many tomatoes? Eat too many oranges, plums or apricots and it could be a case of not-going-far-from-a-loo-itis, but can we OD on the humble tom?
Now I know tomatoes are good for me, though according to the charts obtained from the internet they didn’t keep Humphrey or Dick away. However, tomatoes have antioxidants and other health benefits, are considered ‘speed food’ in Slimming World and I can eat the cherry variety like sweets.
With our own vines going totally mad, we are picking something like 8 plum tomatoes every other day. They are laid out on the window sill in the kitchen, and when nicely red, put in the fridge for use, or cut in half and frozen ready for my pasta dishes in the winter.
Hubby cannot eat fresh tomatoes as they are too acidic for him, plus they are high in Vitamin K which for somebody on blood thinners is a definite no-no.
Interesting about the blood pressure and cholesterol though.
There is no way I can eat them all which is why I am freezing some and giving others away. On a salad I will have at least four, 8 if they are bought cherry toms and in the past I’ve had them in a BLT sandwich made with crusty bread, mayo and a little black pepper. I have also made soup plus my spag bols, lasagna and chili use tomatoes, though for Hubby’s palate this is usually the tinned variety, but for my pasta dishes, fresh is order of the day.
Just thinking.
pensitivity101 
I love tomatoes.
So do I ………….. which is just as well I suppose!
They are good for us.
Never!😀
never what? LOL
Too many tomatoes
Ah. Thanks. I shall continue to enjoy them.
I am sure you cut the beans the way you do because that’s how your mom did it. And I’ll bet other than today, you don’t ever think about it, it’s just an automatic reflex. It’s an unconscious action. I do the same thing. We are interesting creatures, we humans and it’s fun to put ourselves under the microscope to try to figure out what makes us tick. It’s one of my favourite things to do.
One of the things I hated hearing in the office was ‘It’s always been done this way’ when someone suggested change. We are creatures of habit too, but sometimes something clicks and we see the bigger picture.
Definitely, same here. I also go nuts when people say “it’s always been done this way.”
🙂
The possibility of OD’ing on tomatoes is real – my sister did. She ate so many that she broke out in a rash. The doctor’s response was that there IS too much of a good thing. I like snap beans – just snap off the ends and snap in the middle – no need for a knife. Quick and easy but that’s only for the snap beans aka bush beans. For pole beans I leave them whole and either blister them or steam. There is often a real reason why things are done the way they are. The question is: have the reasons changed?
Interesting about the tomatoes. I read of someone’s skin changing colour from eating too many carrots. We have snap peas here, can’t say I’ve seen snap beans, but I shall look for them. Our first crop of runner beans in 2018 was our best, and they were so sweet. Last year and this have been a dead loss even though we planted them in a different place. Ho hum. Never mind. We’ll stick to onions and tomatoes.
Thanks for detailed information about tomatoes – very helpful
Lots of this sort of thing available as images on google.
Yes, you can have too many tomatoes – acid fruit of any type can cause rashes or set the immune system to overload. Raw tomatoes are more likely to cause this response, but overdoing the paste can be a bit hazardous (men benefit best from cooked tomatoes, apparently; women, the uncooked).
The beans are/were cut that way when they were string beans, and for two reasons:
one, the string is a choke hazard, especially for kids
two, the diagonal slice brings the tough part to the fore (steaming or boiling softens the tough, old beans – and I’m not talking about the person!). Which means, the beans are juicier and easier to eat/digest.
Thanks for this Cage. You live and learn. That is really interesting about guys doing better with cooked tomatoes and us gals raw.
I totally agree Di and prepare everything the way my mother taught me 💜
Mum never actually taught me, but I watched and helped a lot!
Me too but .y mum did teach me 💜💜