Eating the Harvest

Happy Independence Day America!

We decided it's just too hot and too much like work to grill out.  Hubs is on vacation so we did have a special treat.  Fried (garden) eggplant, quinoa and garden relish.  From the garden relish:  tomatoes, bell peppers, banana pepper, green onion, okra and a bit of mustard leaves.  Yumm.  I like the relish mixed with the quinoa just as the quinoa is finished cooking.  Hubs likes his on the the side.  So we compromise and do it his way!

One of the Florida Harvest eggplant plants is sickly.  I can't figure out why.  The eggplants from it have been very tasty, but turning up your heels is just not good.    The Orlando eggplant continues to be the gangbusters producer.  I think I'm going to blanch and freeze some this week.

We don't have enough Okra at a time to make a mess of Okra, but it is nice to mix it in with veggie dishes.  I should have had some started and ready to go in place of the tomatoes coming out.  Oh well, better late than not I suppose.

We really like quinoa.  Good for you in so many ways, good for diabetics, and good eats.  It is practically a complete food.  Mixed with some fresh garden veggies it is complete.  We like it so much we just bought a 25lb bag.  OK, so quite a bit is in long term storage.  I planted some seed last fall.  Actually, the same seed we cook to eat.  It sprouted just fine.  Grew, but was on the small side.  It was the red seed I sprouted, which is most likely Chilean and grows at higher altitudes.  The 25lb is white, and perhaps I should try it this fall.  It might be a tropical varietal.  ECHO has a good article on quinoa.  Interesting, the leaves are also edible.  Sub-tropical varieties are suppose to exist but I don't know where to get seed.