Italian Eggplant

What I’ve Planned – Week 15

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With all we’ve received from last week’s and this wee’s basket, half of our kitchen island is covered in tomatoes. I don’t mind that they come a little under ripe, because when we get this many at once, I like to save them up for a big batch to can whole or diced for storage. This week they’re destined for sauce that I’ll freeze to use at a later date. Here’s what I have planned this week for the rest of my veggies.

I’m also planning to try my hand at making some hot sauce with the ground cherries!

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What I Made – Week 21

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This was a comfort food week, through and through, never mind that it’s still hot enough outside that turning my oven on still makes the air conditioning run…

This is basically eggplant Parmesan without all of the work! The only slicing involves cutting the eggplant in half, then the insides are scooped out and cooked until tender with onions and sausage. I left off the breadcrumbs for the topping and didn’t miss them. By the way, the marinara sauce is made with tomatoes from our garden!

This tempeh stir fry with broccoli was tasty, but I probably should have doubled the sauce for two small-ish heads of broccoli. I just pan-fried tempeh instead of making the crispy tofu from the original recipe. I also added some of the spicy peppers from a few weeks ago. (After stir frying, they are really not that spicy.)

This spaghetti allá vodka with Swiss chard is so good and so easy. And did I mention you only use one pot, so cleanup is simple too?! It’s a great way to use both the chard leaves and stems and you can easily substitute spaghetti for a pasta shape of your choice.

In keeping with the one-pan theme, this was Greek chicken with roasted potatoes and green beans. Unlike the recipe, which suggests putting everything in at the same time, I like to give the potatoes a 15 minute head start, then add the chicken and cook for another 15 minutes, then add the green beans for the final 15 minutes or so.

This poached cod in cherry tomato curry was…bland? Maybe I’m used to my garden’s extra sweet cherry tomatoes, but I also got very little spice from the peppers, and not much coconut flavor from the coconut cream. I’ll have to try again, maybe with some hot curry powder next time.

What I’ve Planned – Week 21

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I had thought I would be traveling this week, but instead I have more time to cook through this week’s veggies. Here’s what I have on the menu:

I’m also planning to make pimento cheese and pear scones. Together with a bunch more tomatoes from our garden, the roma tomatoes will become tomato sauce that I will can for later.

What I Made – Week 16 and What I’ve Planned – Week 17

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  • We didn’t cook much at the beach, but I did manage to use up a few things.
    • Pasta with sausage and dandelion greens (adds a bit more bite than the chard this recipe calls for, and I use whatever pasta I have on hand)
    • Grilled eggplant risotto, not what you’d think of as a traditional beach meal, but great on a stormy evening with some fresh scallops
    • Grilled corn, either slathered with mayo, feta, and a squeeze of lime to echo Mexican flavors, or with good old fashioned butter

    I’m planning to cut the rest of the corn off the cobs and freeze it for use in soup or chicken chili later this fall or winter.

    I also let those cayenne peppers turn red on the counter, then I finally dehydrated them and pulsed them in the food processor to make red pepper flakes. I didn’t use the good appliance, so the size of the flakes is a bit inconsistent, but they are definitely potent!

    To make this week, I’ve planned ways to use peppers, peppers, and more peppers

    What I Got – Weeks 16 and 17

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    I spent Week 16 at the beach and didn’t take pictures of what we made, so it’s a combo list this time around!

    Week 16

    • Canary Melon
    • Little Sweetie Cantaloupe
    • Orange Seedless Watermelon
    • Bicolor Sweet Corn
    • Green Dandelion
    • Italian Eggplant
    • Mixed Sweet Peppers
    • Red Grape Tomatoes
    • Yellow Tomatoes
    • Red Okra

    Week 17

    Clockwise from left: Red Leaf Lettuce, Yukon Gold Potatoes, Yellow Seedless Watermelon, Green Cabbage, Canary Melon, Bicolor Sweet Corn, Green Bell Peppers, Red Radishes, Bartlett Pears, Red Grape Tomatoes, Orange Carrots

    What I Made – Week 15

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    This post is more than a bit overdue, and I had quite a few repeat recipes this week around, so I’ve only posted pictures of the new things I made with my Week 15 ingredients.

    This chicken stew with farro, tomatoes, olives, and feta kinda tasted like a savory oatmeal. I followed the cookbook’s instructions but wished I had cooked it just a little less time so the farro wasn’t quite so mushy. I also pulled out the chicken when the cooking time was up and re-crisped the skin under the broiler.

    I tried this recipe for zucchini blondies, swapping the zucchini for yellow squash and the butterscotch chips for chocolate, naturally. It tasted like a combination between zucchini bread and zucchini cookies. Although they were much chewier the second day, to get more of the brownie/blondie texture out of the oven, I think next time I’d bake it a bit longer and up the butter to a half cup. Also, I find whenever I add cinnamon, I taste more of the zucchini bread than a zucchini cookie, but I suppose that’s mostly personal preference!

    Then I tried some zucchini brownies. The chocolate flavor was really prominent, but I think I would have preferred it with a more finely shredded zucchini texture.

    These pita pockets are stuffed with cherry tomatoes from my garden and kabobs (made with ground elk, of course), all topped with creamy baba ghanoush eggplant spread. I always add more lemon juice and salt than the recipe calls for, and added a bit too much yogurt this time, resulting in the looser texture.

    This dish is cheating, because it’s not using CSA ingredients at all, but instead features cherry tomatoes and basil from our garden. It was very easy to make and too good not to share here.

    These are delicious garlic miso green beans with pan-fried teriyaki tempeh.

    I topped a corn, tomato, and avocado salad (tossed with salt, pepper, olive oil, and lime juice) with a pre-marinated fish filet for a quick and easy no-recipe dinner.

    I also made tuna poke, zucchini chicken enchiladas, and zucchini bread.

    What I’ve Planned – Week 15

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    I’ve got an ambitious plan to make up for lost time with my menu this week, including trying to use veggies that have been languishing in the crisper for several weeks now. (Looking at you, cabbage!)

    Some old favorites:

    And some new ideas:

    • Plum cake (I’ll probably freeze this for later)

    I’m also going to see if the cayennes ripen to red on the counter, then dehydrate and crush them to make homemade red pepper flakes!