Fried Italian eggplant from my garden with no pesticides, no refrigeration, no shelf time went right on my plate last night. It was the first fruit of my minimal labor. All I did was plant a few veggies among the flowers and water. I have never had such lucious eggplant in my life. There was no bitter taste, just fresh, fresh, fresh and perfect. Next year I will definitely buy more of these.
A second eggplant is ripening and that one is special. It is for myeight-year-old granddaughter Hannah, a PKU kid. Kids with PKU can eat few of the things the rest of us do, and get most of their nutrition from a formula. One particular amino acid, phenylalanine, is responsible for the restrictions. So all proteins are avoided. Hannah can eat eggplant and it is her favorite veggie, so this next one is for her. She likes to make her own recipe of eggplant parmesan. I know it will be her best one yet.
I never imagined myself giving grandchildren gifts from my garden as my father did, but here I am, and it’s pretty darn wonderful. Especially for a reward like Hannah’s smile (below).
that must have been some great eggplant… you almost made gone with it!!
How embarrassing. You are so right. I was hoping no one would notice I dove into my treasure trove and forgot to come up for air until I had only three pieces left. I grabbed the camera with greasy hands and captured the last of them.
Just checked your blog site. Great photos. I will be back.
Wonderful! I’m so very happy your plant did in fact end up producing for you these wonderful fruits we call vegetables. Eggplant is also one of my own very favorites. I just can’t seem to get enough of it. Yummy! And how sweet that you can spoil your granddaughter with them. Keep on growing! 😀
It looks yummy!!
I just started discovering the joys of growing my own veggies last year and I’m hooked. I’m still keeping it down to a minimum (and waiting on that asparagus to mature enough to start cutting spears from it), but I suspect my garden will expand as time goes on.
I wish I could get my granddaughter to eat veggies. Her parents are almost proud of the fact that they don’t like many veggies, and they’ve passed that on to their oldest daughter. Perhaps Maddy, our new granddaughter (and their youngest), will be different. It’s possible, too, that as Emma (the oldest) gets older she may change her mind, especially if she hangs out with us for a while.
Fried eggplant and fried squash are wonderful. We’ve long sliced squash the way you sliced your eggplant for frying, but we recently started slicing it for French frying like potatoes. We think it’s much better that way. Haven’t tried eggplant that way though.
It is amazing how much better vegetables taste when they are consumed straight out of the garden. I’ve read that the taste declines almost exponentially with time.
We’re getting lots of good stuff from our garden, but it and the heat are working on my old body. Picking butter beans is torture.
I have a lazy person’s garden, only a few veggies among the flowers out front. I check on them from behind my windows (in AC). Ah, that works for me. Of course, I must do a little weeding. I shook on fertilizer once. The rains have kept them watered. This is first effort and I wanted to test the waters. It has been so rewarding, though, I’ll certainly plant more.
I’ll have to try your julliane slices next time. Sounds good. That might interest the grandkids more that way, too. Thanks for the tip.
Hannah is beautiful, and your eggplant looked pretty good, too. Must admit I’ve never tried eggplant except in a vegetarian sandwich, with a whole bunch of other ingredients.
What’s that one recipe…? Baba Ghanoush? I think it revolved around the eggplant.
Thanks. Fried eggplant is a decidedly southern dish, one of few fried foods I eat. The other is okra. Yummy. I love eggplant roasted, too.