I’m good at indoor plants. Phalaenopsis love me. My Christmas Cactus flowers every year on schedule. The Ivy is thriving. I even grew new Croton from branch roots.

Outdoors? Not so much. 

Whatever I’m doing is not the right thing to do. Every year I plant tomato plants. I get one or two tomatoes at the end of the season.

Like the one in the photo (of two in my garden). 

It’s probably because I plant them too late. I buy them early but I really hate gardening so the plants sit on my kitchen counter for a couple of weeks and they are already in a sad state by the time I get them outdoors.

In any event, two green tomatoes aren’t enough for pie or chutney. And I have enough red tomatoes from someone else’s garden. So I decided to make fried green tomatoes as a side dish. Only I didn’t want to fry, so I baked them instead.

Quite yummy.

Baked Green Tomatoes

2 medium to large green tomatoes

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

salt, freshly ground black pepper, garlic powder to taste

1 large egg, beaten

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon Sriracha

1-1/2 cups Panko or corn meal

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet. Slice the tomatoes about 1/8-inch thick. Place the flour in a shallow dish. Add the salt, pepper and garlic powder and mix to distribute the ingredients thoroughly. Coat the tomato slices with the flour mixture. Shake off the excess. Beat the egg and Sriracha in a dish. Dip the coated slices in the beaten egg mixture, covering the slices completely. Coat the slices with the Panko or corn meal. Place the tomato slices on the cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Turn the tomatoes over and bake for another 10 minutes or until golden brown and crispy. Makes 4 servings