Edibles - '09 - Part 4

Sorry, Yankee----I left 3 tomato plants out of 18---so far, the tomatoes look OK, but I won't know until they start ripening.

sorry to hear a lot of you are having problems with tomato's - not here - here are some big mama roma's

love these burpee hybrid brandywine's

Marilyn - lots of effort for one pint, huh? But one's better than none!
I can't believe we have NO grapes for our jelly this year. Some friends who look forward to it at Christmas are going to be disappointed.

Oh, Memory - sorry to hear about your possible blight problems!! It sounds like you've had a nice harvest otherwise!

Bill - very nice maters!!! Sure hope mine start to turn red soon!!

DH used his peppers on the cabobs he made for dinner. There's more coming (peppers)!

Louise, met this strange person while walking the dog yesterday---said he was checking the grapes, was pointing to the vines & telling me they were beginning to ripen----I didn't see one grape! I told him my DH was waiting down the end of the road---he was, TG, & this guy turned around.

That's bizarre.

Whoa - a bit scary.

Yeah---especially when he kept saying, "People think I'm crazy, I'm not crazy". I'm thinking--Oh, yeah---crazy. He didn't have a car, so he must live somewhere in my area, but I've never seen him before.

be careful robin!

Yikes, Marilyn - sounds like that could have been a close call! That gives me chills. Take good care!

Oh, yes, DO take care. Kinda freaky!

Your dog is aggressive Robin, right? I wouldn't go without him!

So, I didn't get LB, I had fresh tomatoes that I myself grew for the first time in my life, I made salsa and it was way too wet, so I made spaghetti sauce, then I went out yesterday or the day before and .... HORNWORMS!!! I've read enough about them so I knew what they were but I though they'd be littler. These guys were massive! The size of a cell phone? Or an iPod? BIG. Yyyyuuuccckkkk! Bigger than DH's thumb, as far as the rule of thumb goes!

ewwwww

We got hit with the Late Blight here in Nantucket. We did get lots of red and yellow cherry tomatoes as they were not affected as were the heirlooms. We saved some but not nearly enough, so we brought back three big boxes from a Vt. farm to make sauce. We have a good amount of peppers both hot and sweet , even some nice purple ones, great eggplants, lots of cukes and a mountain of Tomatillos. I will be making green salsa to freeze. Our Fennel bulbs growing slowly, but we have a bounty of basil to freeze and masses of wormy brassica. Holes everywhere! Carrie, I know how you feel! yuck!

We pulled out all the tomato plants and will burn them. Sad loss.

DH harvested his pumpkins already. The best ones came from seed he threw randomly in a compost heap that we have hidden in the bushes. And he forgot about them until they started climbing the cedar trees where we could see them. Here are some of the ones that he got out of the bushes. There may be more in there, but too much poison ivy to go and really look. Too funny. Patti

Sorry to hear about more blight :( Onewish I'm greeeeen looking at those yummy red potatos. How big of containers did you use? I wonder if I could do that. wha your toms look sweet! RD please take extra care. Whooo hooo Punkins Patti! Are you going to be have a carving contest? Good to see you back DB ^_^

Nice pumpkins Patti!!

Yes - very nice! And matching pruner handles.

Wow, what a nice harvest of everything, Patti. When I dropped off my flowers this evening at the fair, the tomato exhibit was across the aisle---I noticed most people entered cherries, or romas---only 2 entries of large, but more might come in.

Nice looking harvest, Patti! LOL, Victor, for noticing the matching pruning shears!

Marilyn - good luck with your flower entries!!

Still no big red tomatoes here!! Had to use "bought" ones tonight for our big family dinner......bummer!

Thanks, Louise---I could tell by the entries I'm not going to do well in some catagories, but seemed to be OK in others. And thanks, folks, for thinking of my safety---DH is usually waiting for me in the car, & I carry my cell phone. Actually, I walked in the same area today---and there were some grapes---but so high up, he'd have to tear down the vines--if indeed he was checking on them.

No grapes here....even up high. sigh.

Thanks all, color coordination is a must! I must have learned that from Victor in his orange suit. No grapes to speak of here either and zero beach plums. Sad. Patti

nice haul of pumpkins patti!! jealous of your eggplant only five slow growers here so far and we still need to make the fresh eggplant parm and moussaka - hoping to get some from a friends garden at my wife's work

D-nut... I used 2 - 25 gallon garbage cans for the taters

jealous of the pumpkins Patti!!!

I made and eggplant pie day. Layers of roasted onions and roasted yellow tomatoes and garlic with layers of uncooked but peeled and sliced then salted and drained and then dried EP with some grated parm and fresh basil and some lemon juice and then topped with a pressed down layer of toasted bread crumbs mixed with cooked bacon and herbs that is then drizzled with olive oil. I cook it in a hot oven at 450 for about 20 min or until nicely browned. I some times use red tomatoes, and orange juice and zest with black olives. I made it today, but then DH went off to play hockey tonight, so we will eat it tomorrow. It is easy to reheat. I think it tastes better the second day anyway.

I adore moussaka but never made one. There is nothing as good as a good eggplant parm in my book. That is a DH job. His is way better than mine. I think we will have many more eggplants next week. So he can make up a big batch and freeze it in smaller portions. If I get a bundle of extra EP, you might find some in your mailbox. Patti

Nice pumpkins!

Patti, my hubby's eggplant parm is better than mine too, what's the deal with that? He must be keeping a secret ingredient out of the recipe.

flowerjen, weird! I think my DH is more generous with the oil when frying up the eggplant to begin with, so that it has more flavor. Though his isn't oily. I will watch him when he does it next time to see what he does different. Maybe it is the layering order? I wonder if Victor cooks EP parm? Patti

Nope - too much work. I give any EP's I grow to Mom!

Well I'm voting for a moment of revernce for that fabby eggplant receipe that Patti shared.

i second that - it is close to moussaka with all the laying, less the special cheese and lamb/hamburger meat. My wife changed up the moussaka recipe and used mashed potatoes instead of sliced and cooked in oil, she also bakes the EG instead of coking in oil. still in the end the tray is heavy enough for weight lifting exercise. That's it i'm going to a farm stand today and buying some EG!

I stole it from an old cookbook and modified it over the years. I have a very tired old paper back reprint from 1970's that I need to replace. It has been reprinted many times as it is a gem. "Leaves from Our Tuscan Kitchen or How to Cook Vegetables " Patti

I'm with you, Bill---that little EP in the garden is not enough---I love EP parm, but Patti's recipe sounds too good! I love eggplant pizza also, after the EP has been grilled---you don't need a lot of oil to grill it, either---fresh toms, garlic, basil, & ricotta---yum!

we pulled a recipe out of boston globe magazine a few years ago for fresh eggplant lasagna, using home made lasagna noodles, fresh tomato's and basil and a couple different cheeses - fantastic.

Yum!

That sounds good.
I'm cooking up some homemade suace right now and made beer bread from tastefully simple.

doing sauce here as well - just pulled up a huge carrot to to sweeten it up.

My few carrots were pretty puny!