Author Archives: Melissa | Growing Green Nutrition

Smoked eggplant lasagna

Last week, I created a particularly tasty lasagna using — what else? — eggplant and tomatoes.  This dish (especially the leftovers, which feel like all of the goodness with none of the work) makes me not mind the overabundant harvest quite so much.

Smoked eggplant lasagna

Recipe by Melissa
Makes one 9×13 pan of lasagna

Ingredients
Lasagna noodles to make one 9×13 pan of lasagna
2-3 c. grilled eggplant puree*
1 bulb roasted garlic
1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil
2 medium eggplant, peeled and sliced very thinly
5-6 c. very good tomato sauce (see recipe below for one suggestion)
1 c. grated aged cheese, like Romano or Parm

Directions
If using fresh [homemade] pasta, there is no need to precook the noodles.  If using regular lasagna noodles, boil until al dente, according to package directions.

Mix eggplant puree, roasted garlic, and olive oil to achieve a thick sauce consistency.  Salt to taste.

Spread a small amount of tomato sauce on the bottom of a 9×13 pan.  Then layer as follows: noodles, eggplant puree, thinly sliced eggplant (sprinkle with salt), tomato sauce.  Repeat for a total of two layers.

Add a final layer of noodles (for three layers total).  Top with tomato sauce and grated cheese.  Bake for 50 minutes at 375° F.  Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.

Tomato sauce

This is a very rough estimation of this batch of tomato sauce.

8 c. diced garden-fresh tomatoes, mix of paste and juicier varieties, do NOT skin or seed
1-2 c. finely diced onion
1 bulb pressed garlic
olive oil for sauteing onion and garlic
fresh (or dried) herbs including rosemary, thyme, and oregano

Cook tomatoes in large pan.  As the tomatoes start to cook down, saute onions and garlic.  Add to tomatoes along with chopped herbs.  Salt to taste, and add 1-2 T. sugar, if desired.

I did a slow cook sauce, letting it simmer for 2-4 hours to thicken.  If you’re in a hurry, you can add a jar of tomato paste instead of the long cook.

*Can also cook eggplant in microwave and add smoked salt

Sun buttered

Do you like sunflower seed butter but not the  price tag?  Or is it hard to find where you live?  If you have sunflower seeds, oil, and a food processor, you can make your own.

A [16 oz. net weight] jar of conventionally grown (i.e., not organic) sunflower seed butter runs about $5-$6.  If you want organic, add a couple of bucks to that figure.  Then compare that price to buying raw, unsalted organic sunflower seeds for $3.50/lb.

I like to roast my sunflower seeds first, which led to a failed attempt a couple of weeks ago when I, um, OVER-toasted (okay, burned) the sunflower seeds.  I deemed them still edible (by me, because I couldn’t bear to throw away what had been perfectly good food) but NOT suitable for sunflower butter.

The burnt seeds took the wind out of my sails, and it took me awhile to get back to this.

Start with one pound (a generous two cups) of raw, unsalted sunflower seeds.

Toasting is optional, but I like the flavor better.  You can use a dry pan on the stove top, the microwave method, or an oven/toaster oven.  Whatever the method, toast them LIGHTLY.  Let cool most of the way before proceeding.

Start blending seeds in food processor.

Keep blending.  It will start to get weird and chunky.  Keep blending.  At some point it will start to look like cookie dough, but not at all like a nice smooth nut butter.  This post has more good pictures.

Gabriel says, “Keep blending.”  Basically, you don’t want to add the extra oil too early, or the sunflower seeds will not release all of their oils, and it won’t come together as well.

Once you have a doughy, thick nut butter consistency, drizzle in some oil while the food processor is running.  I didn’t really measure, but I think I used about two tablespoons.

Nice and smooth.  Add sweetener and a bit of salt to taste.  I added about a tablespoon of honey (yay for someone being old enough to eat things with honey in them now!) and a pinch of salt.

Put the finished product in a jar or other container and enjoy cleaning out the food processor — a tasty job.  Refrigerate the sunbutter and use as you would any nut butter — sandwiches, stirred into oatmeal, on crackers, in cookies . . . .

With organic peanuts and peanut butter selling for $6/lb, homemade sunbutter may be making more frequent appearances in our kitchen.

I’ve got the summer veggie blahs

I think we’ve gotten to the “too much of a good thing” point with summer vegetables.  The tomatoes, squash, and eggplant won’t quit coming.

I’ve made and canned tomato sauce and salsa and made “sun-dried” toms with the food dehydrator.

Panzanella

We’ve had various versions of ratatouille, tomato sandwiches, tomato salads, stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce with eggplant, grilled eggplant, baba gannoush . . . .

Monday I made an amazing lasagna (recipe coming once I dig out from underneath all the produce), but I’m running out of steam.

I hate to complain, and I REALLY hate to waste food,  but, gah, I just want out of the kitchen!  Any suggestions or inspiration?

Three for three

Well, this is the first full week of my new gig.  I spent yesterday dealing with — can you guess?

If you said garden produce, you’re right!  Much like the last two Mondays, I sorted, chopped, and cooked produce from the weekend’s haul  — no photos, but it was impressive: tomatoes, sweet peppers, squash, eggplant . . . .

Back to the end of last week, though, I started the month well by going three mornings in a row getting out on my bike first thing in the morning.  Two with baby on board, and one solo trip.  More on biking with baby to come soon, but he’s doing very well in the front seat and doesn’t fight the helmet, and I really enjoy having him close as we travel.

I also went almost 72 hours without getting in the car last week!  A few years ago, that wouldn’t have been much to write about, but these past two-and-a-half years?  Pretty rare.

On my plate

We braved the heat to roast beets after a big harvest last Saturday.  They finally made it onto our plates in our classic beet salad last night.

We tossed a garden medley (onion, garlic, squash, red pepper, and Swiss chard) into the cast iron skillet for our second course.

We served the sauteed veg on top of a bed of quinoa.

A bit later, we rounded things out with peaches and shortbread for dessert, but the peaches were feeling camera shy (or the photographer was feeling lazy).

It was a delicious meal to end a delicious day that also included our Caprese salad sandwiches and some treats from our first visit to Pint Size Bakery.