Veggie gardens~Judy

[Guest guest]

I'll have to look for that pickle recipe, I remember seeing it, and I have

printed out so many recipes but haven't gotten to them all yet. I certainly

have a lot of canning jars left, but I heard the cucumber crop around here was

pretty bad due to some wilt or rot or something.

 

Fortunately I don't suffer from heartburn (knock on wood) so I was ok with

the peppers. I just had to take little bites.

 

Traditional eggplant parmesan is a layer of marinara sauce, then some

eggplant, ricotta/mozarella mixture, repeat and bake at 350 for about an hour.

 

What I made the other night was a little different, it was clean out the

crisper night, and I didn't feel like making marinara and didn't have any, or

any mozzarella. So, I layered stewed tomatoes (which I love anyway), eggplant,

and munster cheese because it was starting to mold and needed to be eaten. I

also added in some canned mushrooms just for fun. The stewed tomatoes were

juicy, so I took some tomato paste and combined it with some of the mushroom

juice to try and thicken it. I ended up having to drain off a lot of liquid

before I baked it.

 

I always salt my eggplant, let it drain, and rinse it before I cook it.

Supposedly it takes any bitterness out of the eggplant.

 

Your garden sounds great. Our mechanic, who also plants veggies at the

nursery, tills it every spring. I think he might add composted leaf humus but

I'm

not sure. The soil is pretty good out there anyway. We have a hard time

keeping on top of the weeds!! My garlic and horseradish didn't come up, that

was

a bummer. I do have some garlic interplanted at home that I put in last fall,

so hopefully I'll get a decent crop. And the corn didn't do much, he said

he's going to get a new source for seeds.

 

I have that square foot gardening book. We haven't really been able to use

it since DH built the garage, and the landscape is so chock full, so we have to

tuck in a plant here and there and try to remember where we put things. AmyF