What To Make With Your Home Grown Veggies and Fruits

What To Make With Your Home Grown Veggies and Fruits

In my previous post I gave tips on growing bountiful gardens. In my last post of the year, I will share a couple recipes that I use with my fresh veggies. 

If you make enormous gardens like mine, you have way too many tomatoes to eat. If you don't want them to go to waste, make some tomato sauce and can it in mason jars, By doing this you can save money by not having to buy tomato sauce for your pasta or home made pizza.

Step 1: Wash your tomatoes, make sure there is no dirt on them. Then cut an X on the bottom and take out the core.

Step 2: Boil some water, you may need a huge pot depending on how many you are going to be making a lot. You will also need a bowl of ice water.

Step 3: Once your water has boiled, place the tomatoes in the hot water, let them sit in there until the skin starts to peel. 

Step 4: When they are beginning to peel a little, get a slotted spoon and scoop the tomatoes from the hot water and place them into the ice water. 

Step 5: Peel the tomatoes and place them in a blender. (if you want chunky tomato sauce, leave out a few of the peeled tomatoes) Blend the tomatoes until you think it's blended enough for your personal taste.

Step 6: Place the blended tomatoes in a sauce pan on the stove. If you left out some tomatoes on the side to make it chunky, chop those up and add them now. 

Step 7: Add spices and other ingredients like garlic, onions, fresh basil, etc. 

Step 8: cook for about 15 min or so, stir a few times so it doesn't burn. 

Step 9: Can the sauce if you aren't going to eat it immediately. 

Now for the second and last recipe. Eggplant Parmesan. You can make this using the tomato sauce recipe from above.

Step 1: Wash the eggplants, and peel. You don't have to peel them, but I find it way better to have them peeled. 

Step 2: slice the eggplants about 1/4 in. thick.

Step 3: Scramble some eggs and add seasonings to the mixture. For me, I use 1 egg per eggplant.

Step 4: Dip the eggplant into the egg mixture and place in a heated pan with a little oil or butter. 

Step 5: fry the eggplant on both sides, when the egg covering the eggplant is crispy brown, its ready to take off the pan. Place it on a plate and finish cooking the rest. 

Step 6: Get out a large pan that you would normally use for making lasagna or casserole. Make sure you spray the pan with a non-stick spray.

Step 7: You will need to get out your tomato sauce, along with cheese(the more the better, and freshly grated cheese works better than the shredded bag cheese), and you can add some lasagna noodles if you need to make the dish larger for a big crowd. 

Step 8: layer the eggplant, sauce, and cheese. I also like to add squash and sometimes some cooked ground meat. 

Step 9: Place into the oven (375-400) and cook until the cheese is all melted and gooey. Or if you used pasta, cook until you can stick a fork all the way through the dish. 

Step 10: Let it cool for a bit, and serve on some rice or pasta if you didn't already add pasta to it. If you did, just enjoy the dish by itself. 

Hope you can try out these recipes. If you have any questions let me know and ill be happy to explain things. I don't have any measurements because I don't use them, when it comes to my cooking, I just estimate the amount of everything I need, so I know it can be hard for some people to not have any form of measurements.  

Thanks for reading. 

Even though This is the last post of the year, I may still be posting a few times here and there, so if you are ever bored feel free to read up on my Unsystematic Facts. 

(recipes are from personal knowledge)

How To Grow A Garden

🍍🥒🥔🍅How To Grow A Garden🍅🥔🥒🍍

Don't you just love fresh farm vegetables in soups, salads, sandwiches, and more? Well, sometimes purchasing those vegetables can get pretty expensive. Every year for the past, I don't know how many years, my dad and I have made enormous gardens in our backyard. We usually start around this time of year (end of April, Beginning of May). Our gardens usually consist of tomatoes, corn, bell peppers, jalapenos, eggplant, potatoes and squash. Gardening happens to be one of my hobbies so I picked up a few tricks along the way and I am happy to share them with you. 

First of all, you need to get an area ready for your plants, its best if its an area where there is no grass or weeds(you can make an above ground planter if you don't want to take out your lawn). If you don't have a large backyard, you can plant some vegetables in pots. If you are planting in the ground, I recommend disking the area(breaking up the ground so its easier to dig in and your plants can easily spread their roots, plus all the good nutrients for your plants is in the second layer of dirt called subsoil).

If you are planning to plant seeds, I recommend planting in a pot first then transferring it to a larger area, but you don't have to.

Second, choose you're plants. If you want, you can start off from a packet of seeds, if you do this you have to germinate your seeds. This means you need to get a paper towel and saturate it, place the seeds on the wet towel, then cover them with another towel. Place the seeds and towel in a plastic bag or container, and then add a little more water. This helps the seeds start growing. Depending on the type of seed you are using, you may need to let some seeds germinate longer than others.

Third, read the labels that are in the plant's pots or the back of the seed packets. There you will need to find how deep to dig the holes and how far apart the plants should be. When you are digging the holes, don't get a ruler and make exact measurements, you can estimate, it won't kill the plant if you are an inch or two off. 

Fourth, plant the seeds and or small plants as directed on the label and or packet. If you are using plants that are already grown rather than seeds here are a few useful tips...

-squish the sides of the pot they are in to help slide them out

-break apart the roots and dirt a bit, it helps the roots grow and spread into the ground

-try not to pull on the stems too much, you might end up breaking them

when you place your seeds and or plants, cover them with dirt, if you are using plants make sure no roots are showing, it could damage the plant. 

Fifth, water your plants and or seeds. make sure they are soaked. If you want you can put the little label tabs from the plants next to the row so you can remember what plant they are (just in case you bought different varieties of a certain plant). 

Water your plants when the ground gets dry. It takes a while for them to start producing edible vegetables, but before you know it they will be loaded. If you are planting in a small area, it's best if you hold your plants up with wood posts or metal cages, this not only helps you, but it helps the plant. It makes it easier for you to harvest your food, and it helps with the weight of the food on the plant. (Lets say you have a tomato plant, the tomatoes can become too heavy which pull the plant's stems down, which can potentially break them.)

During the summer, bugs come out. If you don't want bugs to get to your new garden, I learned a new trick you can use. There is a plant by the name of citronella, it's a natural bug repellent. If you plant citronella near your garden, It can help keep bugs away. I happen to have a few citronella plants by my flowers and it keeps the gnats from infecting the soil of my pots. Not only can you use the citronella near your plants, you can use it on yourself. If you grab a leaf and rub it on your arms you can keep mosquitoes away (and it smells good too).

If you end up making huge gardens like my dad and I do, you can share your fresh vegetables with friends, family, and neighbors. 

Hope you enjoyed learning about how to make your own garden. If you have questions, please comment them, and I will get back to you asap. If you wish to learn more about citronella, I will be happy to share my knowledge of it. (And, If you want to know what the citronella plant smells like, I can bring a leaf if you ask.)

I know someone who grew pineapples in their back yard, If you want a challenge, try to grow them. I have never done it, but I plan to in the near future. If you happen to grow some this year, let me know ho

Thanks for reading. 🍅

(information is personal knowledge gathered over the years)