Veggie-ghetti

Have you ever had so many vegetables you just do not have any idea of what to do with them? This is an issue many home gardeners will run into several times during peak harvest season. It is also an issue we were facing over the weekend. If you want to see how we turned a mess of veggies into a tasty vegetarian meal then keep reading! If you wanna get straight to the recipe, we understand that too!

This past Sunday it became abundantly clear that there was a need to have a veggie chop and freeze day. Baskets of produce on the counters and in both refrigerators spoke the same exact story. Things have been so busy as we have done final preparations for the Fall CSA that we hadn’t been able to work it in weekly as normal. So I got the youngsters to wash up all the produce and set up the chopping station. Ironically it was also time to prepare dinner. As I chopped hubby observed to see what he could use to add to our meal for the evening. I readily offered the three eggplants that I had chopped up. If you could have seen hubbies face as he said, “No. I don’t want those. It takes too much to get them to taste good.” Yep, he said that! See, unlike me, he doesn’t like the natural flavor eggplant offers. That is ok, many of us feel that way about various veggies. So he quickly grabbed up some Italian Roasting peppers and stuffed them while I continued to chop. Four quarts of okra later I was finally left with the remaining peppers, eggplant and long beans. I decided to do a stir fry mix. One contained eggplant, beans and peppers and the other contained eggplant and peppers only. I diced the eggplants into fairly small pieces. I wasn’t sure when I would use these mixes so I froze these as well.

The next day marked vegetarian week for me. So as I mediated on what to prepare to please me and my carnivorous family members I thought back to the eggplant stir fry mix and had an idea! I began to prepare the following. It was totally made up as I went however I’m sure that someone somewhere has done something similar before. So let’s get cooking shall we?

The Ingredients

  • Eggplant
  • Bell Peppers
  • Tomatoes
  • Onion
  • Garlic
  • Fresh Basil
  • Tomato Sauce
  • Spaghetti Noodles

The Prep

You will need to chop your veggies into a suitable size. Although I had no idea that we would be using these veggies for this meal when they where initially chopped, it just so happened that the size mimicked pieces of ground meat. So if you are going for a fake out then be sure to consider chopping small. If you are going for more of a ratatouille vibe then chunky is good.

Tip: Before you start chopping go ahead and fill your large stock pot with water for your noodles and put it on and medium high. Add salt if you prefer.

Let’s Cook!

This is so easy peasy that you really do not need the instructions but since this is after all a recipe we thought we better.

  • Add two tablespoons of olive oil to your pan and bring to a medium heat. Add all of your produce at the same time except the basil. Fry for 10 – 15 minutes while stirring frequently
  • Add seasonings (always to taste)
  • Add fresh basil
  • Add tomato sauce and allow to simmer on low for 10 minutes. Within this time add your pasta to your water which should be at a nice boil.
  • Add sauce to noodles & enjoy!

Click the photo for a short video of our preparation!

While eating dinner I asked hubby what he thought of the spaghetti. “It’s real good.” he mumbled between bites. I, feeling quite surprised and impressed with myself, had to tell him, “It’s those 3 eggplants you didn’t want to eat yesterday.” To which he laughed saying, “Touché, touché.” Mission accomplished!

Are you going to experiment with our Veggie-ghetti recipe? If so we would love to see your creation. Share your photos in the community section of our Facebook page or tag us in your Instagram post – #bainhomegardens. From our family to yours!

The Goings On – October 2020

October has arrived and for the first time in years, it actually feels like Fall. Admittedly, our bodies are still adjusting to cooling temperatures. Increasingly shorter days means all farm hands on deck while the sun shines in all its glory. All in the family have been very busy preparing for Fall. We have nearly gotten all of our long season crops planted and now we take a breath… a short one anyway! Check out what’s been happening since we last spoke.

The Produce

Okra has been growing like crazy! Finally with cooling night time temperatures it is slowing down. Thankfully we have been able to freeze quite a few gallons and should be set for the Fall.

Eggplants, for the second year in a row, have proven to be the divas of Bain Home Gardens. They finally decided to get with the program and are gifting us with delicious treats. All four varieties are coming along nicely, three of which are under the cover of Hoopty. We hope this means we can reap benefits for a few more months a least.

Asian greens are loving the cooler temps! Sadly the bugs love to munch on them as well as everything else! We have already enjoyed these as baby greens in sandwiches and cooked the mature greens in stir fries. We are filling more beds with these type of greens and they are available to purchase today on our listings page.

We also recently harvested the first mustard greens of the Fall season both green and red varieties. These were planted in succession. In about a month we should be harvesting from our second planting and so on and so forth. We always plant an obscene amount of greens because we like to freeze them for use later in Summer when it is a bit harder to come by tender greens.

The farm is finally starting to look like a farm again since the beginning of our Fall make over! FINALLY!

Replanting

When Sally hit last month we didn’t know what to expect. Our biggest concern of late has been the high tunnel (Hoopty). We are always concerned about the possibility of wind damage. Fortunately that was not a problem. The high water levels did wash away some newly established seedlings in the field areas. Since we had many of these on stand-by for the Fall plant sale, we simply replaced those from our own stock. Sadly this meant we had to remove these from the sale. Thus replanting has been done for mustards, collards, broccoli and chard. Although we are working hard to rebuild stock for the continuation of the Fall plant sale, we cannot guarantee that there will be any plants available. If and when they are, we will make an announcement. Here is hoping!

New Crops

Artichoke seedlings breaking ground

One thing you have come to know about Bain Home Gardens is that we thrive off growing the unexpected or unconventional. It takes a lot of research, prayer and a whole lot of experimentation! The rewards far out weigh the losses in most cases. Over the past few years we have mastered growing long beans, kiwano melons, Thai eggplants, & most recently Jamaican Scotch Bonnet peppers. On the agenda this Fall is artichoke. We experimented with one variety last Fall with no success. No worries; our tenacious spirit fueled more research and this Fall we are trying our hands at a different variety. Who knows how this trial will go. However if successful we should have our very first artichokes early 2021.

CSA Season

October marks CSA season! It is an exciting time for us. It is finally time to share all that we have planned and grown with our members! Not to brag but our CSA members are the absolute best! We strive to grow diverse crops so our members have a healthy abundance in their eight week shares. Therefore supplies for non members maybe limited the during the eight week CSA. Please check our weekly listings page. We do have a little extra love to go around.

This Weeks Listings

This week we are happy to add our Asian Greens to to our listings page. I just had some scrambled with eggs and cheese – YUMMY! In addition Mr. Bain Home Gardener just gave the go ahead to list his pet project – Scotch Bonnet Peppers! Both of these are now live on the listings page!

This year is almost over and I’m sure you may share the sentiments of others we have spoken to who say, “Good riddance!” However this year has taught us a lot about ourselves. We have come to understand the true meaning of friends, family, love and togetherness. We have grown in ways we didn’t recognize we needed to and for that I have to say to 2020 – THANK YOU! Of course the real thanks goes to our heavenly father for supporting us and helping us to grow during such a difficult time.

Who knows what November will hold for the Bain Family! If you would like to see then check back next month for more Goings Ons at Bain Home Gardens.

Stuff-Loaded Peppers

Bell & Italian Roasting Peppers

Admit it. When you saw stuffed peppers you probably thought “Hasn’t that been done to death?” While we cannot disagree we felt a bit forced to reinvent the stuffed pepper. This year we planted far more peppers than we have ever before with the purpose of using them as the stars in our own salsas, pepper jellies and pickled peppers. These range from sweet to extremely hot! Well we have had the joy of using these for the intended purposes but all at once, in the last two months, these peppers have made up their mind to go CRAZY! Now what? Enter stuff peppers…

Just how exactly did we reinvent the stuffed peppers. We simply filled them with…well – STUFF! This “stuff” included anything we had recently harvested that needed to be prepared. So as you prepare your Stuff – Loaded Peppers keep in mind you can use WHATEVER you have on hand. Get creative with it. We sure did. It is as my mama used to say, “Work with what ya got.”

The Ingredients

  • Peppers – We used Italian Roasting Peppers & Bells
  • Okra
  • Onion
  • Tomatoes
  • Eggplant
  • Rice
  • Ground Turkey
  • Shredded Cheese
  • Oil of choice for frying
  • Flour
  • 2 Eggs for egg wash

The Prep

Although this recipe doesn’t require a high skill level it does require loads of chopping and in our case peeling as well (eggplants). My chopping skills can use some work so this took me longer than I really wanted. What is important is that you chop as finely as you can and try your best to chop each produce item about the same size.

We used our bell peppers for the baked version. To prepare them simply cut off the top and remove the ribs seeds. Massage with a little olive oil and sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Place on cookie sheet and set aside.

We used our Italian Roasting Peppers for the fried version. Slice them down the middle leaving the top on. Remove the ribs and the seeds.

Tip: Cooking the rice while you are fully emerged in chopping is a great idea. It will be done right around the same time you are! If preparing the baked version now is the time to preheat your oven to 375.

Let’s Cook!

The vegetables you choose to use for your stuffing will determine which order you cook them in.

  • If you are doing the baked version place them in the oven as soon as it is preheated and cook for 15 minutes.
  • If you are doing the fried version now is the time to get your fry daddy ready and heat the oil to about 370.
  • In a shallow frying pan add one tablespoon of oil of choice (we used coconut oil) and add ground turkey. When turkey is close to completely brown start adding your vegetables. (If you are doing the vegetarian version simply omit the turkey.)Here is the order and approximate time we stir fried our veggies before adding the next…
    1. Eggplant for 5 minutes
    2. Okra for for 5 minutes
    3. Tomato and onion added together and cooked for an additional 5 minutes
    4. Season to taste. We used garlic and salt.
  • Pull your bells peppers from the oven.
  • Mix the rice with your meat and veggie “stuff”. Cover with shredded cheese bake for 5 minutes and you are done!

If you are doing the fried version then you have a few more steps left.

  • Beat two eggs to create an egg wash.
  • Dip your peppers in flour. Dust off the extra flour. This will give your stuffing something to stick to.
  • Fill the peppers with your “stuff” mixture. Roll in egg wash then roll in flour.
  • Fry. Turn to ensure equal frying on each side.
  • Enjoy!

Nothing brings a family together like a home cooked meal. Why not give this fun recipe a try. If you choose to prepare these for your family, please let us know how they enjoyed them! Mr. Bain Home Gardener preferred the fried the most saying, “I could eat those all day!” Just what every cook wants to hear! Till next time – from our family to yours!