Ratatouille (ra-ta-TOO-ee)

One of the first things I ever tried growing in my garden from seed was zucchini. If you are attempting from-seed gardening for the first time, and want to gain confidence, zucchini is what you should plant! If you water it–it WILL grow! This year, because of a late start to the growing season, everything seems to be about 6 weeks behind, so I’ve just picked my first zucchini this past weekend.

The easiest zucchini recipe we make is: Wash and slice zucchini. In a large skillet, melt either real butter or bacon grease. Add some diced onion and the zucchini and cook until tender.

My Better Homes & Garden cookbook has a recipe in it for Ratatouille, and after Pixar’s movie last year, my kids ask me to make that for them. (Just because they ask me to make it, doesn’t mean they’re both doing a stellar job EATING it, but we’re working on that…)

Ratatouille

2 c. cubed, peeled eggplant
1 small zucchini or yellow crookneck squash, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/4″ slices (about 1 c.
1 (7.5oz) can tomatoes, cut up
1/2 c. finely chopped onion
2 T olive oil
2 T water
1/2 t. dried basil, crushed
1/4 t. garlic salt
1/8 t. pepper
1/2 c. shredded Swiss cheese

In a large skillet combine eggplant, zucchini, un-drained tomatoes, onion, olive oil, water, basil, garlic salt, and pepper. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cover; simmer about 20 minutes or till tender. Cook, uncovered, 5-10 minutes more or till thickened, stirring occassionally. Sprinkle with cheese.

I don’t typically use eggplant, just more zucchini, and I typically use a fresh tomato out of my garden, rather than a can of tomatoes. Recipes are just jumping-off points, right?

Ack! We’re being Invaded!!

I have NEVER seen so many snails in my garden as I have seen this year!  They’ve eaten my hostas and marigolds to shreds!  This afternoon, I checked my zucchini and picked four off.  Tonight, I went through the flower beds that I have along the front of my house, and found over 30 snails!  (We’re not talking little ones either.  If I had known someone with a French restaurant, I’m sure I could have sold these for a good price.) 

I told one of my neighbors that I couldn’t bring myself to kill them, and that I had just been setting them out on the street gutter (and telling them to RUN!).  She in turn told me that she’s seen the neighborhood kids putting them BACK on my grass to save them from joggers, bikes, dogs, cars, and other kids.  We’ve since shown to the kids what these little guys do to our flowerbeds.  They didn’t know–they were saving the snails.

My aunt told me that garlic is supposed to be good at repelling snails, so I dissolved some garlic powder in the water I normally use to fertilize my flowers.  We’ll have to see how that goes.  (If nothing else, when I find a French restaurant to sell these babies to, they’ll be pre-seasoned!)  Another neighbor suggested putting out a small pan of beer.  I’ve never bought beer before, so I’m not exactly sure if there’s a science to selecting beer for snails.  I’ll have to post again on how the garlic works and whether or not we end up giving beer a try.  If anyone else has any tips on getting rid of snails (or a great recipe for escargot) please let me know!

Sour Cherry… Syrup

This past week, the kids and I went over to my parents’ house to help pick pie cherries from the tree they have in their backyard. You know what that means?! It’s officially the start of canning season! We look forward to canning our own home-grown fruits and veggies every year, but this year, the cherries didn’t get sprayed in time. If you know cherries, you know not getting sprayed in time means WORMS. We did figure out a way to salvage the cherries because it was going to make me sick to do ANYTHING that would result in eating worms (if there’s anything worse than finding a worm in your food, it’s finding HALF a worm in your food! Trust me, I know…), and it would have been so sad to have to throw away as many cherries as we got this year. Here’s our solution for using wormy cherries:

Sour Cherry Syrup

6-1/2 c. sour cherry juice
11 c. sugar
5-1/2 c. water
3/4 c. lime juice

Wash and pit cherries. (I’m not sure how many cherries it takes to make that 6-1/2 cups of cherry juice. We had several Tupperware bowls full and juiced them all. There was enough juice to make this batch, and cherry jelly, AND probably enough for another batch of syrup.) Run cherries through a juicer. Strain juice through cheese cloth and let sit for a few hours to separate. Try to use the clear juice, rather than the cloudy part, to make your syrup. In a large pot, mix cherry juice, sugar, water, and lime juice. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves. Cook over moderate heat 10 minutes. Skim off any foam. Reduce the heat and simmer about an hour, until syrupy, stirring and skimming as needed. Ladle syrup into jars. (We processed in boiling water canner for 10 minutes.)

When it first started cooking, we thought it tasted like cherry-flavored medicine, but as it continued to boil down, it tasted better. We’re planning on using the cherry syrup on pancakes, maybe over ice cream, and you can also pour 1/2″ of the syrup into a tall glass, add lots of ice cubes and club soda and drink it.

The Cherry Jelly we made was the recipe out of the pectin box.  If you don’t have a juicer, try mashing the fruit and then straining through damp cheese cloth.  Even using the juicer, we lost a lot of juice, but that was better than having wormy jam or canned cherries.

If you’re looking for a great, inexpensive cherry-pitter, try www.Lehmans.com.