Green Beans
The green beans are growing well this summer and we are happy to be in the middle of such a productive crop. It is so productive that we are not able to pick all the beds in a CSA morning. U-pick beans are available, but that too is falling short. But it’s ok, as whatever doesn’t get harvested and eaten is fed instead to the soil. It will still be a source of nutrition to you.

It is only a few weeks during the year that we have roma bean available. Fresh picked and steamed, they make many a nice, simple dish. You can spice up  the dish below with some hot peppers, it’s a perfect use for them.

Roma Beans and Red Peppers
1 lb roma beans, stem snapped off
1 medium red pepper, seeded and chopped into small dice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1-1/2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
grated cheese

Drain water and add all ingredient to pot, stir and cover
Let stand for 5 minutes
Serve with topping of cheese and green garnish

Eggplant
One last eggplant recipe for this year. Such a recipe was something that I was not aware of…eggplant bacon. Member Nancy Ricklefs mentioned it while bean picking, so we tried it out. Our search led to a recipe at TheVeg.org. Pictures of our results are shown below.

It turns the eggplant into a type of jerky that goes well on a sandwich, or could be diced into “bacon bits.” It is worth trying. There is a dehydrator and an oven method given in the recipe.



Marinated strips in the dehydrator on a mesh screen

Eggplant, tomato, basil sandwich