Cooking with Eggplant

We returned from a 2 week trip to discover that our garden had been ravaged by deer.  Almost everything was nibbled or devoured, and only eggplant, watermelon {yay!!}, cucumbers, some squash and a few tomatoes remain.  Thankfully, we've had a good crop this year, so I'm not complaining, just a bit sad.

The eggplant production is completely out. of. control.   My fridge looks something like this:

Source: thedailymeal.com via Ali on Pinterest

Seriously, there are over a dozen eggplant in my fridge right now, and more ready to pick.  This is the time of year for eggplant to come in, so when you see it in the Farmer's Market this weekend, or on sale in the grocery store, don't steer away from it!  See if one of these recipes that I've rounded up could serve you well and spend a little extra time in the kitchen creating something with an end of summer crop item.

Eggplant Parmesan

via

Stuffed Eggplant

via

Moussaka

via

Grilled Eggplant Panini

via

Roasted Eggplant Salad with Smoked Almonds and Goat Cheese

via

And, in honor of Julia Child, who would have celebrated her 100th birthday this past Tuesday, 

Ratatouille

via

Do you like eggplant?  What's your favorite way to eat it?

Update from the Garden

I shared with you on Tuesday my blogging dilemma:  the camera wasn't working.  Really, I just couldn't find the battery charger, and the battery was dead, so no camera.  We thought perhaps we left it plugged in at the hospital when Mason was born, so we were shopping for one at Costco yesterday.  We placed one in the cart, and then I remembered I had definitely used it at least once since coming home from the hospital.  So, when we got home I looked all over, yet again, and in a moment of desperation decided to look under my nightstand.  Aha! I found it!  Now I can resume taking pictures of moments like these:

and other less meaningful things that I talk about on this blog.   As soon as my battery was charged I headed outside to snap some pictures of our growing garden.

A few weeks ago I shared with you our Vegetable Garden with raised beds that we planted this year.  As a reminder, here is what it looked like at the end of March:

And, now look at it!

We are having SO much fun with this project.  Each night after dinner, we all grab a basket {minus Mason, who is usually wrapped across my front} and pick whatever is ready.  We've gotten tons of green beans, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, yellow squash, and cucumbers.  Here are some close-ups of what is to come:

Tomatoes, several varieties

Okra

Green Bell Peppers

Cantaloupe!!

Butternut Squash {great for making baby food}

Green Beans

Pole Beans

Cucumbers

Zucchini, and some Dill there on the right

Eggplant

Cherry Tomatoes

Raspberry Blossoms

Raspberry Plants from my MIL

I've learned a few things from gardening thus far:
1) Watch out for overgrown plants covering the walkway--there could be a fire ant nest below.  I stepped into a nest two weeks ago and got several ant bites on my foot.  Maybe the real lesson I should have learned was to wear socks and shoes.

2) Don't stand on the other side of someone who is doing this:

Pieces of earth will fly and most likely hit you, which hurts. very. bad.

3) My baby monitor reaches to the garden!  Yay!  This means I can go up there during nap time and still get some work done.  Who says having a newborn is nothing but nursing and changing diapers?

4) Working the land is very fulfilling!  It brings me such joy to see Bradley enjoying his garden, researching new ways to make our crops grow, and eating the delicious vegetables that have grown.

How does your garden grow?

The Vegetable Garden

One of the things that my husband and I both enjoy is gardening, although, I do have to say he does a majority of it now that we have children.  We planted a garden last year, but it was right after we moved in, and there wasn't as much planning and preparation as there should have been.  Once the fall came, Bradley took quite seriously the task of researching gardening in our area, looking at seeds, ordering seeds, and even starting to prepare the ground for another crop.

A few weeks ago he took some time off from work and spent almost all of his spare time making some beds for our garden.  We are blessed to have an easement behind our fence, which borders a large piece of property that doesn't get used.  It's our requirement to maintain the easement, so rather than just leaving it bare, we decided to make the most of it and plant our garden there.  

Bradley did a little bit of research before making these beds, but most of his design was purely from his own head!  He amazes me!

You may notice some red paint on the wood in this picture.  When you shop at Lowe's or Home Depot, be sure to look for carts of discounted wood.  A lot of the wood he used for our garden was marked down to $.50 or $1 or so.  These pieces may have some imperfections, but they are perfect for use in a garden.

A majority of our beds are framed with wood, but there are some areas that are simply marked with rocks.  A friend let us pick up a truck load of manure from his horse farm so Bradley incorporated that, and some hay, into the soil.

This is the second level of the garden.  I love walking in the garden at sunset!

Some yellow squash are already starting to do great.  Bradley started everything from seeds this year, and so my dining room table has been a greenhouse for the past month.  I think it's well worth it, though, to get this many plants from a packet of seeds that costs less than $2.  You can't beat that!

Cherry tomato plants going strong!

This trellis is for some cucumbers that Bradley is trying out.  Apparently they are climbing cukes, so it will be fun to see how they take off.

 Not only does Bradley work on the vegetable aspect of the garden, he also tries to make it fun for the girls {and convenient for me} by building bridges for us to walk across the drainage ditch.  Our neighborhood is still being developed, so we often find scrap lumber and wood pallets in various lots; we try to put them to good use.

As I said this garden is behind our fence, so it's quite a ways away from the house, and the hose.  The other day, Bradley dug a trench through the yard and up into the garden so that we could bury a hose and have a water source right in the garden.  This will make watering so much easier.

I originally wanted to make some pallet art out of these pallets, but Bradley snagged them first and made two bridges.  I rather like his invention!

 Here are some more plants that are almost ready for the transplant to the garden.

We're praying for a bountiful crop this year!  It really is satisfying to 'work the land' and see the fruit of your labors.  I'm so thankful for Bradley and all the hard work he puts into our yard.  Thanks, honey!


Linking to Centsational Girl's Garden Link Party