All the hard work of the summer-the sweating, the bug bites, the stinky dead fish heads-are paying off. We’ve had ideal conditions this year-mild temperatures, plenty of rain, lots of sun-and we’re reaping the bounty.
I can go out almost every night now and pick something for dinner.
Because I grew mini-pepper and mini-eggplant, I’ve been trying to stash them in the frig until I have enough to make a recipe, maybe a soup. But I confess I usually end up eyeing them hungrily and eating them before I can cook them up. The peppers are awesome on salads-you can slice them in half and be done! And I’ve been slathering the eggplant in olive oil and spices and roasting it with whatever else I happen to be cooking for dinner.
The tomatoes are worrying me a bit, to be honest. They are gorgeous-the heritage tomatoes are ridged and beautiful! But, with the exception of the cherry tomatoes, they are still green. If they don’t turn by the end of the month, I might be forced to pick them and find recipes to match (can anyone say Fried Green Tomatoes??)MMMMM. This does makes me nervous because I did try a green tomato pie last year and it was a disaster.
My sweet potatoes, eaten down by the animals, have regrown too.
I’ve had an abundant basil crop. I used a technique I found on Pinterest to freeze it. I washed and dried the leaves and threw them in the food processor with a bit of olive oil, then freezed them in ice cube trays. I used two squares in my spaghetti sauce last weekend-AMAZING! Confession: basil is my all time favorite herb.
And this weekend, I made a copycat Macaroni Grill bread recipe with some of the rosemary. Mine turned out a bit flat-I forgot to read ahead on the recipe and ended up having to transfer to dough to another sheet after it had risen. Oh well! The rosemary is so fragrant! I am cutting some more and hanging it to dry, which my 9 year old says is very “Little House on the Prairie” of me! I’ve had an awful time finding vintage recipes using the herb though. That deserves some further research!
Are you hungry yet?