Good Night Sweet Garden

We got notice to expect a light first frost last night and so we harvested the "fruits" - the peppers and eggplants - red, pale and dark green, orange, yellow, and purple. Our second year little garden has been good to us. Certainly our soil loves to make eggplant. Earlier in the summer, I was challenged with coming up with a new eggplant recipe each day. When winter arrives and there is no more eggplant, Conrad won't even look at one in a supermarket. No more till next year. Except the delicious sauce he put in the freezer. I have loved the fresh jalapenos, seeded and stuffed with light cream cheese, then baked. But some are mild and some require 911. We have definitely played with fire. Early in the summer, we were blessed (cursed?) with squash and zucchini - the first time we planted zuchinni . I have to tell you - they hide. And grow 2 lbs. overnight. Conrad will argue that having a garden is not cheaper, but will agree it is tastier and surely healthier.
Lunch's eggplant recipe is one I found in an old cottage cheese pamphlet that I modified.
Italian Cottage Bake

1 eggplant, washed, peeled and sliced
1 cup low or fat-free cottage cheese
l medium tomato, chopped
1 tsp. dried Italian seasoning
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup regular or reduced fat shredded mozzarella or pizza cheese


Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray. Arrange slices and bake in 375 oven till soft (about 10 mins.) Meanwhile, mix other ingredients except for pizza cheese in medium bowl. Spray 8 inch baking dish with non-stick spray. Arrange layer of eggplant, layer of cottage cheese mixture, repeat. Bake at 375 20 minutes, add pizza cheese, cook another 15. Insert knife. Should be set and have nice brown color. Recipe can easily be doubled for larger family. Makes 4 squares to serve as side dish or light entree.

Not having to work this weekend, we headed out early to the last operating Farmer's Market of the year yesterday. Louisville is blessed to have up to 20 small to large farmer's markets, at least one a day, operating from late April till mid Oct. The Bardstown Rd. market will run till the end of Dec. Yesterday we saw tomatoes, peppers, tomatoes, greens, etc. We purchased end of the season of the corn for Sunday night's meal. We dabbled in sweet potatoes in our garden, came up with only 4 lbs; Conrad purchased a couple at the market. I also got a couple of green tomatoes, some Kenny's cheese ( kennycountrycheese.com ) a few other things, and some Kentucky Bison ( kentuckybisonco.com ) mild breakfast sausage. I have come to love buffalo meat. It is 95% lean. The Kentucky Bison company has its own herd, its own processing plant and own distribution. Buffalo meat can be found at Whole Foods and recently my local Kroger offered a vacuum-packed brand called "Great Range". The farmers' markets also offer local chicken, pork, lamb, and beef. We're not health nuts or food snobs yet, mind you. I have a box of Velvetta shells and cheese on the shelf. And there a couple of Bertolli frozen entrees that won't instantly clog your arteries. These items have their place. But since the Chinese scare of plastic in pet and baby milk, we've become a LOT more mindful of "now where does this stuff come from?".

Sunday's supper consisted of Bison sausage and mushroom stuffed sweet potatoes, end of season of corn and oven-fried green tomatoes purchased at farmer's market and cream cheese stuffed jalapenos from our garden. Any pork sausage will work in this recipe.

Sausage Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

4 Sweet Potatoes, washed and scrubbed
1/2 lb. sausage
1/2 chopped mushrooms

Prick potatoes with a fork and place in microwave. Hopefully, you have the magic potato button. Let cool slightly. Slice in half. Meanwhile, crumble sausage in skillet and cook till brown. Add chopped mushrooms, cooking till soft. Scoop sweet potatoes out, leaving nice shell. Mix with sausage and mushrooms. Return to shells. Add grated cheese or breadcrumbs and broil slightly if desired.