Yesterday's Lunch

I spied this recipe for Grilled Eggplant with Yogurt Tahini sauce over at Our Happy Acres and knew I had to try it.  The Villager based this recipe on one by Nigel Slater.  (These are not my own eggplant, they came from the farmer's market.  A petite or baby eggplant is best for this recipe, The Villager recommends a specific variety in his post.)  I used my favorite Pampered Chef grill tray for the grill, veggies come out perfectly every time.  As for the sauce I just happened to have all ingredients already on hand, I love that!  I served it with a Caprese Salad, it made for a light, refreshing lunch.  Below is the recipe, I will be making this again very soon.

2 tbsp tahini paste
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 dash salt
1 ea medium eggplant (12 oz, or several small eggplants)
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp ground cumin

1. Combine tahini paste, lemon juice, yogurt, garlic and salt to taste. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
2. Slice eggplant into 1/4″ thick slices. Brush with olive oil, sprinkle with cumin and salt.
3. Grill eggplant over high heat for 8-10 minutes, until soft and done.

Good Stuff

I guess I will start by sharing a new zucchini recipe I tried this week, it was wonderful and a nice deviation from the normal 'zucchini bread' fare. The recipe is for a savory zucchini-basil muffins, I made mini's and they disappeared very quickly. The recipe can be found here at Synergy Farms, they did a three zucchini bread recipe taste test, and this was the favorite, give it a try!

Next in line, today's CSA share. I am happy with the contents this week, but once again the condition of the produce was not good. Today's 1/2 share included the following:

• 2 pieces summer squash
• 2 cukes
• 2 tomatoes
• 2 apples
• 3 ears corn
• 1 lb. potatoes
• 1/2 lb. onions
• kale

The cold nights and mediocre days are doing a number on the garden.....the vegetables have not increased in size at all this week, and that is a bit worrisome. I have so many peppers and eggplants out on the vine, I would hate to lose them all to cold temps. Luckily a few things are still producing and don't seem to mind the evening's temperatures, here they are pictured below:

Todays Harvest, Free Seed Offer

If you could have seen me this afternoon picking away in the garden I would have had a satisfied smile on my face. In my harvest basket today there was my first eggplant (EVER!!), my first red-ripe Carmen pepper, some zucchini, beans, and tomatoes. All these goodies weighed in at 5.6 lbs! I feel the urge to make more oven-dried tomatoes (pictured below), but then that leaves few for fresh eating. What to do?

Johnny's sent out a letter to it's customers, in it are some suggestions for crops to plant now as well as an offer for some free seeds. The offer is in bold print in the close-up picture along with some of their suggestions for sowing now. The letter also mentions the late blight disaster, and how to use row covers as season extenders. I am posting this just for you Thomas (over at A Growing Tradition)!

I have some baby acorn squash growing and the carrots finally seem to be happy to grow in my garden, I will actually need to do some thinning soon. I must go check when sweet potatoes become ready for harvest, I am dying to dig down and see what (if anything) has grown. I know it is way too early, but I can anticipate right?? :)

The Incredible, Edible Eggplant

After seeing the 'egg' in the eggplant I was curious to see if this was in fact the origin of the name. In short, yes. Back in the day old European varieties resembled eggs, but interestingly enough in other places in the world it goes by other names such as aubergine, brinjal, egg apple, and Guinea squash. The Feds say Thomas Jefferson is credited with introducing us Americans to this lovely vegetable. Need a few more reasons to eat your eggplant? How about antimutagenic, antiviral, and antimicrobial for starters, or one of my personal favorites, an excuse to eat more mozzarella cheese. (I guess its a good thing eggplant also does good things for my cholesterol too!)

In some parts of the country eggplant can be heavily cut back to produce a second harvest. Here are some tips on selection and storage from WHFoods:

Choose eggplants that are firm and heavy for their size. Their skin should be smooth and shiny, and their color, whether it be purple, white or green, should be vivid. They should be free of discoloration, scars, and bruises, which usually indicate that the flesh beneath has become damaged and possibly decayed.

The stem and cap, on either end of the eggplant, should be bright green in color. As you would with other fruits and vegetables, avoid purchasing eggplant that has been waxed. To test for the ripeness of an eggplant, gently press the skin with the pad of your thumb. If it springs back, the eggplant is ripe, while if an indentation remains, it is not.

Although they look hardy, eggplants are actually very perishable and care should be taken in their storage. Eggplants are sensitive to both heat and cold and should ideally be stored at around 50 degrees Farenheit (10 degrees Celsius). Do not cut eggplant before you store it as it perishes quickly once its skin has been punctured or its inner flesh exposed.

Place uncut and unwashed eggplant in a plastic bag and store in the refrigerator crisper where it will keep for a few days. If it is too large for the crisper, do not try to force it in; this will damage the skin and cause the eggplant to spoil and decay. Instead, place it on a shelf within the refrigerator.

If you purchase eggplant that is wrapped in plastic film, remove it as soon as possible since it will inhibit the eggplant from breathing and degrade its freshness.

Have you heard about Eggplant sex? Well if not go here and learn all about an eggplant's supposed sex organs, and while your at it check out the many great varieties described and pictured from all over the world.

Garden Tour

This first picture is of my blustery back yard, now you can fully understand why my garden is in the front yard.

My messy garden needs some clean-up! As you can see I am still in the 'container planting phase' which is ridiculous considering we are almost into July, darn weather, so pardon the bags of soil, peat pots and containers scattered about. I will post some close ups of the planted containers another day. The kitchen garden is made up of six beds; 4 are constructed with 1x8 cedar boards; 2 are deeper with a combination of 1x boards. How deep you ask? I forget. 12 and 18 inches maybe? I am sure my husband didn't forget since he was lucky enough to rip the boards down to size. (thanks honey!)



The first bed is home to my asparagus (and some peas and milkweed for fun). The second has three rows of tomatoes. There are a handful of basil plants through out along with a row of red onions and 2 rows of cut-n-come again lettuce interplanted.







The third and fourth beds are Cucurbits and Roots. The one in the foreground is divided into 3 sections and contains carrots and herbs; potatoes; carrots and sweet potatoes. The vertical bed behind has cukes, winter squash seedlings, marigolds, and sweet alysum. Some of these seedlings are too small to be seen.

In the fourth bed I have legumes, beans, peppers, onions. the peppers were stuck in to separate the legumes and onions since they do not enjoy being neighbors.

The final bed is the one that gives me trouble. A few plantings of spinach, beets, and chard have been ripped out and started over or replaced with something else. Currently it holds a variety of salad greens, 2 rows drying beans(pole), bush beans, another row of pole beans, zinnias,3 peppers, 1 eggplant and some bunching onions. It's picture can be found below in the last post.