Melon
In one of our seed orders we received a free packet of melon seeds. We planted it out front in the box around our tree, not thinking anything would happen. We just found a couple of these guys!
Gumbo
Today was the day to use the okra we harvested. Gumbo seemed like a good choice. It ended up being a very long process, but I wanted to try to make an authentic version.
First I made the roux, which entailed stirring this for half an hour straight.
Then I got the main broth, veggies (including a couple of our very own green peppers), and meat boiling.
Time to cook the okra. This stuff is a gooey mess.
And a few hours later we ate.
Although it was tasty, I’m not sure I’ll take the time to make it very often. I’ll have to find a short cut version.
HOT peppers
The Congo Trindad pepper has ripened in our backyard. When I researched more about it I found out it was a type of habanero pepper. Yikes! That’s seven notches up from a jalapeno. A jalapeno is between 2.500-8,000 scoville units while the Congo Trinidad pepper is between 150,000-300,000 scoville units. The only thing I can think to do with these is make hot sauce.
Upstairs the Brussels Sprouts (left), Cauliflower (middle), and Kale (right) are sprouting as the beginning of my fall crop.
Zuta Peppers
We harvested a nice variety of goodies this weekend; tomatoes, okra, peppers, hot peppers, and cherry tomatoes.
The Zuta peppers stole the show. I think they turned such a beautiful color. To use them, we made a deconstructed stuffed pepper and a vegetable quesadilla. They had an even better flavor than bell peppers, which works out well since my bell peppers are doing miserably.
Botinecka Zuta Peppers
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Blossom End Rot and Fried Green Tomatoes
Fried Green Tomatoes
Our latest issue has been with our tomatoes. First, some of them are getting blossom end rot. The ends start to turn dark and leathery and will eventually start to rot the whole tomato. We found this with several of the green tomatoes on our plant last weekend and, in order to save the fruit, we went ahead and picked the tomatoes, cut away the bad areas, and made fried green tomatoes. I had never tried fried green tomatoes before since I’m not a big tomato fan, but these were great. Thanks Drew!
Apparently, one way to quickly stop blossom end rot is to dissolve Tums in the water that you pour over the plants. This condition is caused by a lack of calcium which is exactly what Tums are made of. We’ll see if it works.
The other issue is that we have some sort of critter starting to eat our tomatoes before they ripen. We’ve harvested a few and are trying to ripen them in brown paper bags. If that seems to work we will go ahead and take them all.
Mini Eggplant Parmesan
To use my eggplant I decided on Eggplant Parmesan. I’ve never actually tried the dish before and I realized, while looking through recipes, that it consists of a TON of red sauce and cheese. I went with a mini version to fit the scale of our eggplants. The eggplants were sliced, dredged in egg, then panko flakes, and baked in the oven. Once they were done, I added a dollop of tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese on top and broiled them for another minute or two. They tasted a bit like pizza bites.
A pic of our recent stash.
Veggie Rolls
The other night we had a couple of vegan guests over which really stretched my cooking abilities. Every time I thought I had a great idea for a dish, I would later realize it had cheese, eggs, or butter in it. Ugh, being a vegan is no fun! I eventually decided on making veggie spring rolls using some of our cucumbers and basil.
I started by chopping the cucumbers, red pepper, carrots, lettuce, green onion , and basil.
Then you dip the rice paper in warm water to loosen up, lay it out on a damp dish cloth, and fill it with the vegetables.
You roll it up…
And serve. It was actually much easier than I expected. I made a peanut dipping sauce and bought a sweet Thai chili sauce to go with it. Food just tastes better when it’s from your own garden.
Spaghetti Squash
We picked and ate our spaghetti squash last night. It was really fun to be able to grab dinner from the back yard. We baked it, scrapped out the innards, and cooked it in a skillet with some butter, garlic, and parsley (also from the garden).
Spaghetti squash
Now what to do with our two eggplants here. We’ve tried roasted and grilled so far, but neither of us were too impressed. Maybe Eggplant Parmesan or Babaganoush is in our future.
Eggplants
Brussels Sprouts
I’m finally growing Brussels Sprouts, which I absolutely love. Drew has no faith in them actually producing anything, but I am taking on his challenge! At least they have spouted.
Brussels Sprouts
In other news, the cucumber plants are officially done. At least, that is, the main two plants that we’ve cared for. There are two more out front that were not attacked by the cucumber beetle but never reached the size of the ones in the back. I bet we’ll get several more from those.
It appears we may have more raspberries. 
I’m also impressed at the size of the tomatoes and eggplants coming along.
Tomato
Listada Eggplant
Weekend Update
I’m excited that our harvest is branching out from cucumbers and we are starting to get more of a variety. It appears that we planted too many jalapenos and not enough bell peppers. I think the bell peppers may not be performing well because they are in the shade of the tomato plants. Another thing to note for next year.
One of the free plants we received was the husk cherry tomato. It is pretty interesting because it is so different from everything else. We’ve learned that when the husk turns a papery light brown they are ready to be picked. I tried one and it reminded me of Trix cereal oddly enough. These are even smaller than they look in the picture. About the size of a marble.
