Bountiful is thy harvest! RELISH in it!

My garden is doing really well this summer. It's amazing what a bit of rain and some cool weather will do for growing plants! The last two summers were practically 3 months straight 100 degree and higher days with no rain. This summer however, we've actually had rain! Nothing like back home in Indiana but we've had a few inches of rian this summer. The cool temps have been nice too. We've even had some days down into the 80's! 

My carrot patch is doing well. I've been able to pick some carrots every few days. There isn't anything better than fresh veggies from the garden and I just love the smell of garden carrots. 

A couple little eggplants, some zucchini and some kale. My biggest garden blessing however has been cucumbers! Last week I picked two dozen in the span of two days. Every summer when y cucumbers first come on Yip, Yap and Yahoo have no problem eating any cucumber I pick but inevitably, as the summer goes by their willingness to eat all the cucumbers dwindles. This morning I found myself with a refrigerator full of cucumbers which means it was time to do some canning! 

I decided it was time for relish. 

I ground up my veggies in my food processor. Do you know how painful it is to grind up 12 onions?  Lots of tears in my kitchen this mornin'! 

The veggies were ground up and a bit of salt stirred in and then allowed to sit for an hour. Then I drained the juice off. I had a huge bowl of ground cukes and I found it easiest to place my cutting board over my bowl of veggies. 

After adding some vinegar and spices we set the relish to boil. I had to break it up into two batches! Whew, that's a lot of relish! 

I ended up with 15 pints of relish AND 11 pints of dill pickles. I think it might be wise not to plant cucumbers next year. Someone better remind me of that come May!

My relish recipe was one I received from a dear friend from back home in Indiana. 

Jenine's Relish

2 quarts ground cucumbers and/or zucchini

12 small onions, ground (about 1 qt)

4 peppers

2 1/2 t. salt

Grind up all veggies and add salt and mix together. Allow to sit for 1 hour. Drain the juice then add the following; 

3 cups of sugar

1 1/2 t. cinnamon

1 t. tumeric

2 t. celery seed

2 cups vinegar 

Bring relish to a boil. Ladle into hot jars then allow to self seal. 

*I know that it's not recommended to allow jars to self seal when canning but when I get a recipe from someone who's been canning for longer than I've been alive well, I tend to trust them. If Jenine told me to allow jars to self seal I trust I won't die!*

I've even had so many cucumbers that I've given lots and LOTS away. A friend of mine took a bag full then brought me this the next day. 

Fresh Cucumber Salad

7 cups unpeeled pickling cucumbers sliced thin (about 7 large dills)
1 cup sliced onions
1 cup sliced bell peppers
1 T salt
1 cup white vinegar
2 cups sugar
1 tsp celery seed
1 tsp mustard seed

Mix cucumbers, onions, peppers and salt; set a side
Put vinegar, sugar, celery seed and mustard seed in a pot and bring to a boil
Remove from heat and let cool for one hour
Pour mixture over cucumbers
Put in jars and store in refrigerator
Will keep up to 2 months

Makes 2 quart jars

Yes, I've had a blessed garden this year. Now, if only I could say that my tomatoes were blessed as well. They've been hammered by blight! Half of them have died and half of those that survived aren't producing tomatoes. *sigh* maybe next year my tomatoes will be better. 

Foody Friday - Eggplant Soup with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Now that fall is here I seem to be using my slow cooker a lot and one of my go to cookbooks is 1,001 Best Slow-Cooker Recipes: The Only Slow-Cooker Cookbook You'll Ever Need.

I was browsing through it the other day looking for some inspiration when I found Eggplant Soup with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce. Ha ha!! A way to use up all those eggplants that ended up in my deep freeze! 

Back in the spring my sweet greenhouse lady talked me into a couple of eggplants. At .99 a piece, sure why not? She neglected to tell me that eggplants will produce a lot on just one plant. By August I had had my fill of roasted eggplant with parmesan cheese. 

Eggplant Soup couldn't be that bad...could it? 

Eggplant Soup with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce 

4-5 cups chicken broth

2 medium eggplants, peeled, cubed

3/4 chopped onion

1/4 cup chopped green pepper

2 cloves garlic, minced

salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients, except Red Pepper sauce, in slow cooker; cover and cook on high 4-5 hours. Process soup in blender until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve warm with a spoonful of Red Pepper Sauce swirled in each bowl. 

Here's what my soup looked like after being put through the food processor. Frankly, I was losing my appetite. 

Grey. Soup. 

??

Ew.

Surely this couldn't taste good! I was mentally preparing to walk to the composter with this swill. 

But, I went ahead and finished up the recipe. 

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

2 large red bell peppers, halved

1 teaspoon sugar

Place peppers, skin sides up, on broiler pain. Broil 4-6 inches from heat until skins are blistered and blackened. Place peppers in plastic bag for 5 minutes; remove and peel off skins. Process peppers and sugar in blender until smooth. 

Note: 1 jar (12 ounces) roasted red peppers, drained, can be substituted for the peppers in the recipe. 

At least the red pepper sauce was a little better to look at.

Though combining them sure didn't make it look much more appetizing. 

Maybe this soup is best saved for Halloween? You think? 

But I sucked it up....and took a bite. 

OH. MY. GOODNESS. 

I have never underestimated anything this much in my entire life! 

This soup was fantastic!!! REALLY!!! 

The red pepper sauce really gave it a kick and was incredibly warming on the coldest windy days. Heck, now I'm wishing I there had been a few more eggplants producing in my garden this summer! 

Okay people, you don't like eggplants bring em' to my house!!! 

YUM!!! 

Foody Friday - Roasted Eggplant and Tomato Soup

In the spring when I went to the greenhouse to buy tomato plants I was talked into buying a couple eggplants. Why not, they were only $1 each. I'm now blessed with eggplants!! What to do with them all?

Roasted Eggplant and Tomato Soup 

The latest soup I'm in love with. 

3T olive oil, divided

2 large eggplants, diced

12 Roma tomatoes, halved lengthwise

8 cloves garlic

2 c. chopped onions

8 c. broth

1 t. salt

2 t. sugar

2 T vinegar

1 fresh chopped basil or 1T dried basil

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Toss eggplant and garlic in 2T olive oil. Spread out on greased cookie sheet and cook on highest shelf of oven. Place halved tomatoes skin side down on separate greased cookie sheet on lowest shelf of oven. After 15 minutes, check vegetables to ensure they aren't burning. Tomato skins should be a bit brown or beginning to blacken where they are touching the sheet. The eggplant and garlic should be turning brown and blackening slightly. Cook another 10-15 minutes, until vegetables have achieved the desired color. Heat olive oil in a large, heavy bottomed pot. Add onions and cook for 3 minutes. Add stock and roasted vegetables and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook, covered, for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and puree. Stir in salt, sugar, vinegar and basil. Garnish with 1T shredded mozzarella cheese and basil. 

Oh my!!! After this bowl of soup my eggplant can't grow fast enough!!! 

Foody Friday - Stuffed Eggplant

Last month when we were in Taos we took a quick spin through the local grocery store for munchies.

As much as I would have enjoyed it, we just couldn't live on gourmet rattlesnake sausage the whole weekend. My kids and the men needed munchies.

Anyway, as we were whipping through the deli I noticed a display of stuffed eggplant slices. I just got a quick glimpse of what they had in the case but it looked like a eggplant slice stuffed with some sort of cheese mixture. Mmmm...I'd been thinking about trying something like it every since we got home.

I did a bit of Googling and found a recipe that, though it wasn't full of cheese, sounded pretty good.

Baked Eggplant Rolls: Involtini di Melanzane

Ingredients
Extra-virgin olive oil, for frying
3 medium eggplants, with the stem ends removed, cut lengthwise into 1/3-inch thick slices

Frittata:
4 large eggs
1/3 cup, plus 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
(I used whatever kind of cheese I had and it turned out fine.)
1/3 cup freshly chopped Italian parsley leaves (dried worked)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
2 cups basic tomato sauce


Directions


In a 12-inch frying pan, pour olive oil until it sits 1-inch deep. Heat the oil over medium-high heat until it is hot, but not smoking. Add the eggplant slices and fry, in batches, until lightly browned on each side. Remove the eggplant slices to drain on paper towels


To make the frittata: whisk the eggs and the 1/3 cup Parmesan together in a bowl. Add the parsley, and season the mixture, to taste, with the salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in an 8 to 10-inch nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat. Pour in the egg mixture and cook, swirling the egg mixture to cover the bottom of the pan. Cook until the omelet sets and the bottom turns a light golden brown. Invert the frittata over a clean plate and then return to the pan, top-side down, golden brown-side up. (This wasn't nearly as messy a step as it sounded.) Cook for another 1 to 2 minutes until the bottom side is also golden brown. Transfer the frittata to a cutting board and, using a sharp knife, cut into 1 1/2-inch strips. Cut each strip in half, crosswise.


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.


Place a frittata strip in the center of each eggplant piece. A few of the longer eggplant slices will need 2 shorter strips of frittata. Roll the stuffed eggplant up from 1 end to the other and place, seam side down, in a lightly greased baking pan. The rolls should be placed side by side, somewhat tightly, together. Spoon the tomato sauce over the eggplant rolls and drizzle lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle lightly with the remaining 2 tablespoons Parmesan. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Let rest 5 minutes before serving.

This turned out REALLY well. I was surprised how good it was. Yap ate two, Yahoo ate one, Yip and DR wouldn't touch them. Go figure, they are my anti veggie men. I'll have to try this again sometime but maybe with bacon and more cheese in the egg. Doesn't that sound good? Bacon, egg, cheese and tomato sauce...yum!