A friend and I were talking about dinner plans one day and I commented that one of the first things I do in the morning is decide what to have for dinner. She thought I was kidding; when Chip came up to us, she asked him what he did first in the morning. He said, "Talk to Sandy about what we're having for dinner." I started laughing when he got to "about"-the look on my friend's face was priceless. And disbelieving.
We have always been like this. Maybe because we're both Italian. Maybe because neither of us eats fast food so we have to have a plan earlier than dinnertime if we need to defrost the entree. Maybe this is just a holdover from when we both worked and whoever got home first would have an inkling of the dinner plan. Even though retirement has brought less adherence to schedules, we still plan dinner in the morning.
Summer brings a welcome ingredient to meal planning, because whatever is ripe gets incorporated into our evening meal. Chip brought in some beautiful bell peppers yesterday morning which immediately became the basis for stuffed peppers. He grabbed some leftover rice and ratatouille, the vegetables augmented with Italian sausage and ground beef, and started parboiling the peppers. He has more patience than I do. I make "fake" stuffed peppers where the bell peppers get cut up and sauteed with the filling. I have to admit that Chip's patience paid off, as the filling absorbed the bell pepper's flavors more deeply than simply throwing the peppers into the mix. He definitely will be encouraged to make this dish again. And more often.
Because most of the plants have reduced their production, gathering this and that for stir fries is part of the fun of seeing what's for dinner. We have cut up chicken or beef or pork in the freezer specifically for this sort of meal. Chip planted a second crop of Chinese cabbage and the kale is still producing, both of which add a deep rich green color to the stir fry as well as needed nutrients. Freshly dug, tasty carrots add some orange and Chip always manages to sneak a yellow summer squash into the mix. Thankfully, both squash plants have gotten a fungus and are slowly dying, much to Chip's chagrin, but they still are producing. Adding red onion for color and some green tomatoes makes a healthy variety in our stir fries, although you will never find our mixture of ingredients in any recipe book.
Our cucumbers are producing with nary an indication of slowing down. We both love cukes but facing four to six 14" cucumbers every few days is a bit more than the two of us can consume. They are hard to use as the main course. We have made salads, adding hot pepper slices and onions and herbs. We have eaten them simply sliced with a little salad dressing. We have put them on sandwiches. We have dumped them in sour cream and onions and vinegar, ignoring the high caloric content. We finally decided to can the cukes with onions in the hope that we could enjoy them this winter. I hope this works because we ended up with eighteen pints of the stuff. Wonder if they would make good Christmas presents?
The eggplants show no sign of decreased production. I have pestered Chip for 35 years about his penchant for fried foods. But even I can't resist freshly picked eggplant dipped in flour, then beaten egg, and finally breadcrumbs and quickly fried in olive oil. The trick is to have the oil really hot so the eggplant doesn't absorb too much oil; draining the fried eggplant on paper towels helps lessen oil absorption as well. We also make eggplant lasagna, substituting slices of fried eggplant for lasagna noodles; the ricotta mixture on each layer of eggplant slices melts and is so yummy. We do not discuss calories when eating this dish either.
Chip, with noteworthy diligence, has thwarted the raccoons and squirrels; the pears were picked before they ripened and stored, depending on the variety, for two to four weeks in the refrigerator. After they ripened, we canned them in apple brandy and a sugar syrup. I took one for the team and sampled the brandy. I have decided that all future canning projects will go much smoother with a glass of apple brandy nearby.
As the summer wanes, empty parts of the garden have been replanted with fall crops. We look forward to having broccoli and Brussel sprouts and kohlrabi in the coming months, hoping a hard frost will wait until late October. Harvesting these veggies after a light frost makes them taste better. Plus there always is apple brandy to chase away the chill.
Master Gardener
Sandra DePalma-Odell