Matt and I finally decided to tackle as much produce as we could in our fridge before it decided to fight back and take over the house. So, today we:

• Roasted eggplant with slivers of garlic – this was frozen into batches for use later…dips, tossed with pasta, ravioli filling, etc. I have a few pictures of the before and after cooking, although I didn’t take any after removing the skins and mashing it all together because, frankly, it looks gross. Smells and tastes fantastic, but if I show you a final picture you may not make it at all, and that’s not what I want. Recipe and some pictures will come in a future post.
• Tomato sauce – perfect – Recipe and pictures will come in a future post.
• Turkey, white bean, and chard chili – I made a double batch and doubled the amount of Swiss chard. I still have more chard in the fridge, so I’ll be making another batch this week! I sliced and tossed in 5 okra to one of the batches and it was really a nice addition, so I may do that when I have okra on hand. The okra changed the flavor slightly and made the chili almost silky.
• Dehydrated tomatoes
• Blanced and froze green beans
• Melon sorbet – One is honeydew with tequila and lime. The other is charentais (similar to cantaloupe) with rum.
• Grated and froze zucchini – We don’t really bake in our house. Both Matt and I lean toward cooking rather than baking. Ninety-nine percent of the time you’ll find savory smells coming from our kitchen rather than sweet. So, unlike many people who use the grated zucchini for cakes and muffins, I use it for casseroles. My mom has been making a zucchini, carrot, and tuna casserole for as long as I can remember. I love it! We’re having that for dinner tonight.
• Beer – Ok, I know, we don’t grow hops….but Matt did brew some beer today. Will be very much appreciated in a month or so.

I still have to tackle some heirloom tomatoes which I plan to make into salsa. We have a couple bags of Ralph’s okra. Our plants look gorgeous this year, but they are producing nearly nothing! Matt, who only recently has accepted okra into his life (he’s still trying to get past its slimy nature) bought 2 large bags from Ralph on Saturday…2! So, those need to be dealt with soon. I also saw a bag of artichokes which I think we will probably use them on homemade pizza Tuesday night. Wednesday night we’ll have a steak (Two Plus Three Acres beef) stir-fry with some pac choi. Then there are the cucumbers, which we plan to turn into refrigerator pickles. Plus a few bunches of parsley that need to be chopped and frozen.

Oh, please let that be it! It was a busy, but productive day.