It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. It continues to be rainy and hot here, though we got a bit less rain last week. We’re getting plenty of the summer veggies, and still coming up with different ways to use them in the kitchen. It has been a great year for eggplant, and I have brought in over 30 pounds of them so far. I also got the first ripe sweet peppers last week from Jimmy Nardello’s and Sweetie Pie. The first hot peppers to ripen here have been jalapenos. It was nice to add peppers to the menu, even if only in small quantities.
Friday’s harvest
eggplant and first ripe sweet peppers
I made two pans of Slow-Roasted tomatoes last week with cherry tomatoes, using a mix of Sunpeach, Sun Sugar and Cherry Bomb. I drizzled some olive oil over the tomatoes before roasting in a 250°F over for about 3 hours. That was the last thing I baked before the oven went out, which is not a good thing at all! Thankfully the broiler still works, as do the range top burners. We also have a gas grill outdoors which sees a lot of use this time of year.
tomatoes for slow-roasting
I got a half dozen Garden Treasure tomatoes last week. I’ve been growing this University of Florida bred variety for several years now, and it always performs for me here. It has resisted splitting better than many of the slicing types I’m growing, no doubt due to having a somewhat thicker skin than many other tomatoes. These six weighed just over three pounds total.
Garden Treasure tomatoes
We also did another tasting of the Chef’s Choice Striped and Damsel varieties. The season for slicing tomatoes is all too short here, and I like to eat them as often as possible. I am quite happy eating a good vine ripened tomato every day, and they only need a little salt to suit my tastes!
sliced Chef’s Choice Striped and Damsel tomatoes
One of my favorite eggplant uses when we have lots of them is Baba Ganoush. Since the oven was out I roasted these on the gas grill, which gives them a slight smoky taste. I didn’t skimp on the tahini or olive oil, and served it with some of my toasted whole wheat pita bread. We also enjoyed some sautéed eggplant one day for lunch, which accompanied a BLT we made from the ripe slicing tomatoes.
baba ganoush with whole wheat pita bread
sauteed eggplant with BLT sandwich
I roasted up one of the Thelma Sanders acorn squashes while the oven was still working. I like to cut it into wedges and bake in a cast iron skillet, which caramelizes the squash and brings out the sweet, nutty flavor of this variety.
roasted Thelma Sanders squash
I also made Whole Wheat Cinnamon rolls last week, using my still-in-development recipe for Whole Wheat Cinnamon Swirl Bread. After baking I topped the rolls with a donut-style glaze I made from milk and powdered sugar, leaving a few unglazed for comparison. My wife and I tasted both the glazed and unglazed ones, and decided they really needed the glaze since the basic dough is not very sweet to start with. I froze most of them to keep me from eating them all up, which tells me the recipe is likely a keeper.
Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls
Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to share, add your name and blog link to Mr Linky below. And please take a minute and check out what everyone is harvesting!