Saving the Season

Take a peak at all the Michigan produce I was able to preserve and can this past summer and fall ;)

http://mypuremichigan.blogspot.com/

Wiley's Farm

You really should check this out...

http://mypuremichigan.blogspot.com/

My Onion Harvest!

I didn't plant anything in my spring garden this year except three sets of Texas 1015 sweet onions.  Well I harvested them over the weekend and what a harvest!  For having done nothing but plant them and water them, here's what I got!

And I intend to bring all of them to Michigan with me.  I sure hope my family up north likes onions :)

Eggplant Parmesan

I rarely order this dish in a restaurant.  Most of the time it's gooey, bland and swimming in a watery tomato sauce.  Yuck!  But I wanted to try and make it at home with vegetables from my garden.  God knows I have enough eggplant!

And in my freezer, I've got several batches of that fire roasted tomato sauce I blogged about a couple of days ago.  So I searched my cookbooks and the internet and hoped to find a good, easy recipe.  And I found one on CookingLight.com/HealthyHabits.  Of course, I wouldn't be "me" unless I tweaked the recipe a little bit to reflect what "I" (and wonderful hubby) like!

So here is my version of Summer Eggplant Parmesan.  It's not a simple-throw-together-quickly-on-a-weeknight-recipe, but it's not that difficult either.  It just takes a little time.

Summer Eggplant Parmesan 
Eggplant:
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon water
2 cups panko breadcrumbs
2 (1 pound) eggplants, peeled and cut crosswise into 1/2 inch thick slices

Filling:
1/2 cup torn fresh basil
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic or pressed through garlic press (about 2 cloves)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 16 oz container whole milk (or part-skim) ricotta cheese
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Remaining Ingredients:
1 24 oz jar premium pasta sauce (or homemade)
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 ounces thinly sliced mozzarella cheese
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Preheat oven to 375F.

To make eggplant:
Combine 2 eggs and 1 tablespoon water in shallow bowl.
Combine panko and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese in a second shallow dish.
Dip eggplant in egg mixture, dredge in panko mixture, pressing gently to adhere and shaking off excess.
Place eggplant 1 inch apart on foil lined baking sheet, coated with cooking spray.
Bake at 375F for 30 minutes or so until golden, turning once and rotating baking sheet after 15 minutes

To make filling:
Combine basil and next 6 ingredients.  Set aside.

To assemble:
Spoon 1/2 cup pasta sauce in bottom of a 9 x 13" glass baking dish coated with cooking spray.
Layer 1/2 of eggplant slices over pasta sauce.
Sprinkle eggplant with 1/8 teaspoon salt.
Top with 3/4 cup pasta cause.
Spread half of ricotta mixture over sauce and top with a third of the mozzarella and 1/4 cup cheese.
Repeat layers once, ending with about 1 cup pasta sauce.

Cover tightly with foil coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375F for 35 minutes.
Remove foil; top with remaining mozzarella and Parmigiano.

Bake an additional 10 minutes or until sauce is bubbly and cheese melts.
Let cool 10 minutes before slicing.

 

Looks yummy doesn't it? Tasted even better! :)

Buon Appetito! 

Cantaloupe and Sweet Potatoes

I can't believe how much the cantaloupe vines and sweet potato plants have grown!  Maybe it has something to do with that wonderful manure compost I put in this bed before planting.  I'm not sure, but it has to be something because this is what this bed looked like when I first planted it...

 ...and this is what it looks like now!

I wasn't sure any of these sweet potato slips or the three volunteer cantaloupe plants would even make it in this God-awful heat.  Not only did they survive, but they are thriving!  Look at the cantaloupe on these vines!  There are fifteen (15!) of these babies on the vines, just this size and a lot more little ones waiting to grow.  It's amazing!

There's a ton of little ones out there too!  Don't ask me yet what I'm going to *do* with all these melons that will likely be ready at the same time!  I suspect some of my friends will have a cantaloupe mysteriously appear on their doorstep!  I also envision cantaloupe ice cream, cantaloupe bread, maybe cantaloupe preserves... :-)

And I've never grown sweet potatoes before so I wasn't sure what to expect.  But the plants are gorgeous!  The foliage is purple and green with very large leaves.

The potatoes should be ready to harvest 90-100 days after planting, which puts the harvest date around mid September.  I can't wait for that!  And I sure wish I could get a glimpse of what's going on underground in this bed!  Oh well, that's part of the fun of gardening...the waiting, the anticipating and the joy of the harvest!

Tomatoes are Ripening

It took long enough...geez!  I've been picking cherry tomatoes for a couple of weeks now, but the large tomatoes have certainly taken their sweet time ripening.  But oh was it worth the wait!! 

I have Martian Giants

Costaluto Genovese (an heirloom)

And the very prolific Chadwick Cherry

You can bet these tasty summer treats will be on the dinner menu every night! :)   I've got a few yummy recipes that I will share soon!

Tomato Worms

GRRRR...tomato worms are a thorn in the side of every gardener I know.  They camouflage themselves so well that they are nearly impossible to find.  And they can strip a tomato plant overnight.  But over the years, I've discovered a pretty sure fire way to find these buggers and eliminate them from my garden.

Look for the poop...

Then look up and follow the stripped, eaten vines...

And I'll bet dollars-to-donuts you will find the culprit, happily munching away. 

This guy was huge!  At least 4 inches long!  And really creepy looking too :/

I found three worms this size in my tomato plants this morning using this method.  Let's just say these guys didn't make it home for dinner :)

Summer Squash Bites the Dust

Well, it happens nearly every year...the squash vine borers destroyed my squash plants :-(  But this year the bugs got them a little earlier than usual.  I managed to pick some scallopini squash before they petered out, but not as much as I would have liked.  Look at the damage those little buggers (no pun intended) inflicted on my plants.  Just awful...

I'm very disappointed that I had to pull all these diseased plants.  But this experience is very much an integral part of every gardener's life and we must accept it as it comes.  I know I could have injected the vines with BT, but I don't know a lot about that product and to be honest, I really didn't have the time.  So I pulled the plants and in the process I discovered 2 little toads living deep within this garden bed.  Pretty neat little critters who are most beneficial to have.

A lovely little lizard was also scampering about.  These guys are so fast and I was lucky to catch this shot.

One good thing came out of this experience.  By pulling all the diseased squash plants, I made lots of room for my green and yellow beans to spread out and have more room to grow.  Not a bad trade off I guess :)