All the hard work...finally paying off...

Here are pictures of some lovely produce from our garden, and some recipes to enjoy. :)

Basil Eggplant Recipe
4 Servings, Prep Time: 10 Minutes, Total Time: 15 Minutes

2 chili peppers
2 eggplants
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 cloves chopped garlic
1 tablespoon sugar
1 bunch leaves picked from the stem Thai basil
1 tablespoon cooking oil

Slice the eggplants into irregular shapes for easy turning in the pan.
Chop garlic and slice chili peppers. Pick the leaves from the stem of the Thai basil.
Heat a pan or wok over high or medium high. Add oil, chili peppers and garlic. Stir until the garlic turns golden brown. Add eggplant and stir. Add a cup of water and cover the pan or wok with a lid. Keep the lid closed until the eggplant is cooked. It should take about 5-7 minutes before the eggplant is done. The eggplant turns from white to translucent when it is done. Almost all of the water should have been evaporated at this point. If the eggplant is still not cooked, add a little bit more water and keep lid closed until the eggplant is ready.
Add fish sauce and sugar and stir. Add Thai basil and quickly stir to heat the basil, so that it retains its color. Turn off heat immediately.
Serve hot with rice.

* I didn't have fish sauce in the house when I was making this, but I had oyster sauce, and subbed it, it tasted just fine. :)

Baked Squash Casserole Recipe

6 cups squash, cut in small pieces
1/4 cup onion, chopped fine
1 (8oz.) package herb stuffing mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup carrots, shredded
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
1(10 3/4 oz.) can cream of chicken soup

Cook squash and onion in salted water for five minutes. Drain. Combine soup and sour cream. Stir in carrots, squash and onion. Mix together stuffing mix and butter. Spread half of this mixture on bottom of casserole. Spoon vegetable mixture over it.
Spread remaining stuffing mixture over top. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Easy Salsa
Serves 2-3

Ingredients:
3-4 tomatoes
1-2 cloves of garlic
1 jalapeno, sliced
or a pinch chili powder or chili flakes (not nearly as good...use a fresh pepper if you have it)
1/2 bunch of cilantro
1/4 cup fresh lime or lemon juice
Sea salt to taste
1/2 white onion, peeled.

Put everything into the food processor and pulse until the desired consistency is reached.

I like to heat everything over the stove for a few minutes, just to blend the flavors really well, plus the salsa lasts in the fridge several days longer when you do so. I add the cilantro and citrus juice AFTER the cooking process if I'm going to do that.