Eggplant

I never would have thought in a million years I'd be saying, "I didn't put enough eggplant in the garden."  
It's something my mother, aunts, and grandmother never thought about raising.  I'll bet I was a teenager before I even knew what an eggplant was, and I was married with a couple of toddlers when I first tasted it.  I wasn't impressed, simply because I didn't know what to do with it; I think I may have steamed it.  
Then I discovered ratatouille and understood what this mysterious eggplant could do for a dish.  
The Russian Gourmet gave a recipe for eggplant salsa in his blog a couple of years ago, and in the spring of 2009, I decided to put one eggplant plant (that doesn't look right) in my garden so I could try it.  
I loved the salsa, and I rediscovered ratatouille.  I made Eggplant Parmesan, and it was good.     
This year I put four plants in the garden.  They can't keep up with my usage!  
Today I had to make a choice between eggplant salsa and ratatouille because the eggplants aren't producing so well now.  I almost had to flip a coin, but finally settled on ratatouille because I had a couple of zucchinis to use.  So far this year I've made this dish five times, a double batch each time, and I've personally had perhaps two cups altogether, because everybody else likes it too.  If we have any of it in the refrigerator, Cliff wants to take it for his lunch at work.  And he would take it ever day, I do believe.   
He's gone for the day, so this will be my chance to eat my fill.  Ha! 
So next year I suppose I'll plant a half-dozen eggplants and hope for the best.  

What to do with eggplant

Small Farm Girl asked what I do with eggplant.  Well, it's great on the grill; I think my son-in-law brushes oil on the slices, and perhaps some seasonings.  It's really tasty, but not one of those things that's good left over.  
My favorite use for eggplant is ratatouille.  You can find a recipe in any recent Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, or just google it.  You also need tomatoes and zucchini for that dish.  
Another recipe you can find online or in most cookbooks is eggplant parmesan.   If you like Italian cooking, and if you like cheese, this dish is for you.  
I got the recipe for eggplant roe from my Kansas City Russian friend.  It's sort of like a salsa that's great for dipping.  Click HERE for the recipe.  I'm always on the lookout for any other ways to use eggplant.  If any of my readers have suggestions, be sure and comment.  
Google led me to a whole passel of eggplant recipes HERE.

Morning thoughts

Everything I have read online about goldfinches tells me they disappear from feeders around August 8. While I'm not seeing as many as before, I still have several still showing up at my feeder; that's a good thing! I love the splashes of yellow cavorting around my yard. I understand their color fades to brown for the winter.

I've acquired several kinds of flowers with which I'm getting acquainted this year, but the Coneflowers are my new favorites. They absolutely bloom their little hearts out all summer; they attract butterflies; and although it's recommended that you "deadhead" them, I'm leaving the dead flowers on the plant because I've seen goldfinches making a meal of the dry seeds. You absolutely MUST get some coneflowers if you don't have them already! They demand little, and they give so much.

Last year my hummingbirds left sometime in mid-August, as I recall. They're still here this year, extra feisty of late. I have one feeder attached to a window by Cliff's chair, and we've had a marvelous time watching the little critters chase one another. Sometimes one will even hit against the window pane in his haste to escape from a rambunctious friend.

We've had rain. Lots of rain: another three and three quarters inches since Sunday morning. All the varieties of tomatoes in my garden are blighty, but the fruits are still staying ahead of the blighted areas of the plants. I think I'm done canning tomatoes; I only have a few pint jars left, and I do believe I have plenty to last until next summer. We shall see. At present, for any dishes requiring tomatoes, I'm using fresh ones from the garden. With any luck I won't have to start using canned ones until sometime in October, depending of course on how bad the blight situation gets.

I'm still scouring the Internet for ways to use Butternut squash. The pie I made last Sunday was excellent. Yesterday I made Butternut squash soup (recipe HERE), and I like it fine; I sent some with Cliff in his lunch to take to work; I'm anxious to find out if he likes it. I found a different recipe from Emeril, but his version requires two cups of heavy cream. With a Jersey cow in residence here, I can obtain the cream; but I don't think Cliff and I had better indulge in so much of it.

From only one plant, we've enough eggplant to indulge in rattatouille, Russian Eggplant caviar, and Eggplant Parmesiana; my daughter has taken a few eggplants home with her, too.

My garden is a weedy mess, but it's still providing us with good things to eat. The okra is taller than I, and is just coming into its own; I'm freezing plenty to use in chicken gumbo this winter.

If the weather-guessers know what they're talking about, it looks like we might have a few days with no precipitation. That will be a nice change.

Enough rambling! I wish each of my readers a wonderful day. I'm wasting time at the computer when I could be outside enjoying a crisp morning that feels like autumn.