Bounty!

It has been the sunniest and hottest September that I ever remember!  Very grateful for a cold rainy start to October.  Some "dreary" weather is allowing me a bit of time inside away from the bounty of my gardens!   This has been an incredibly busy fall for us.  We took on a lot so we are truly looking forward to winter and enjoying the fruits of our labors!  Here is a bit of what is up on the this place on earth!! 

Firewood has just begun...

A very fine potato harvest despite lots of bugs & blight!

We finished the painting & cork flooring upstairs!  YEAH!  Waiting the 7 days for the sealant to cure, then mop boards, and then the moving back in process! 

 CANNING!!!!

Peppers are just so pretty!

I had an epic day of canning this week. I put up 14 quarts of green beans, 8 pints of spicy dilly carrots, and 23 half pints of my famous eggplant relish all in one day!  It was me at my time management best!  I got up early and headed out to the garden to pull carrots.  I had leftover brine from my pepper pickling so I decided to make a labor intensive carrot pickle for my son who has requested not to receive any holiday gifts from us!  He says that our help with college and medical expenses are enough!  Wow!  I haven't really liked making these carrot pickles in the past but, this year I assure you, there is an extra dollop of love in them! My son loves all things carrot!  

After pulling carrots and collecting fresh dill seeds I headed back to the house to start topping the beans I had picked the day before.  While prepping the beans I had my dishwasher full of jars running through the sanitizing cycle.  I canned the beans first.  It takes about an hour for each batch to pressure can start to finish.  During that time I prepped the carrots that need to be washed, peeled, cut, & blanched.  by the time the first batch of beans were decompressing I had my carrots in a hot water bath.  I did my second batch of beans and some clean up.  At 2PM I took a 30 minute break to eat something and stretch.  Then on to the eggplant!

This a recipe of my own design.  A few years back I grew some eggplants from a packet of seeds that I got for a dime just to give it a try.  Well I ended up with an abundance!  There is only so much eggplant parmesan & ratatouille a family could eat.  Enjoying the flavors of Indian Cuisine and always looking for something to put on my homemade crackers I came up with this recipe....that I happily share with you below!  I finished everything around 6PM.  I did sleep well that night, nothing like a productive day for a restful night of sleep.  Much more to do so I better get cracking!

Eggplant Spread with Indian Flair! ***** 12 – 13 ½ pints ***** Sterilize Jars *****

In a large stockpot add:

1 cup olive oil
4 lb eggplant; chopped into bite size pieces (about 16 cups)

Dry roast in a cast iron skillet until they pop:

2 tablespoons Cumin Seeds
4 tablespoons Fenugreek Seeds

2 tablespoons Mustard Seeds

1 tablespoon Coriander Seed

Add roasted seeds to oil and eggplant ~ cook until eggplant is tender.

½ cup minced fresh ginger~set aside (use mini chopper)

Add garlic to mini chopper 1^st  & chop

10 large cloves garlic; minced
4 tablespoons chili powder
4  teaspoons ground ginger.....................ADD to chopped garlic to form a PASTE
4  teaspoons turmeric

½ cup white vinegar

Now add to Eggplant in the Pot:

3 cups White Vinegar

2 cups sugar

4 Tbls Chili pepper flakes

4 Tbls Pickling Salt

Fresh Ginger

Above Paste

Stir over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until boiling***Grind up mixture with hand held blender

½ inch head space ~ Pressure Can 6lbs for 8 minutes

Gets BETTER with Age! (like me!) 

Deborah Diemer Copyright 2015