Doggin' on my eggplants.

Today while riding in a car with 3 other older, very cute, and opinionated women we were discussing gardening. I mentioned how my eggplants are about ready to be picked and one lady asks " what do you do with them" I replied that I "eat them." Then the oldest lady says, "only when you're really hungry right?... Starving!" (this also came from the woman who insisted that you cannot grow an avocado tree from the pit of the avocado. I looked it up, you can) I kind of laughed then pouted my lips and thought, what's so bad about eating an eggplant?

Eggplants have a bad wrap, most people I talk to say they don't like them. They are not my favorite vegetable but for the most part are pretty good when matched up with other yummy ingredients that they can soak up. I was looking for some advice to picking them and came across this funny reply to an email asking about when and how to pick the black beauties...

"I don't like eggplant but my brother does, so I had to grow them for a while. If the fruit are softball size, they are plenty big enough. I never noticed any real difference in their disgusting soggy bread flavor and texture regardless of when they were picked. If they get too large, the seeds may tend to harden a little, but that will take quite a while. Just pick a few at varying sizes and find out which size is the least disgusting.

Rather than freezing them, I would just pull the plants and toss. Had some once that were just diced and frozen, then later they were cooked in a casserole and were no more or less awful than fresh. I would just feed them all to the sheep. If you like them, you might try a casserole, either fresh or frozen, using instant stuffing mix, some croutons, shredded carrots, diced eggplant, some sour cream, and bake. Probably forgetting some other source of moisture, though. Without the eggplant, it is quite a good casserole."

"Just feed them to the sheep." SO cute, I still like my soggy breaded plants and will convince those around me that they indeed are delicious! Just be creative, and pray that you have adventurous friends who will help you eat them! I was going to bring some home this week but decided that my family would not appreciate a homegrown eggplant. I have always been the black sheep in the family when it came to food, I was always the one who tried the "funky" things. WHATEVER MOM! At least I know where a majority of my food comes from, there is nothing wrong with being a food enthusiast. Trying new things is fun, so the next time you're offered an eggplant dish, just try it! I promise you won't die.

here are a few yummy recipes, from my favorite blog Smitten Kitchen
Pizza

Rigatoni

Stuffed eggplant