Eggplant Caviar

Eggplant caviar. You're probably thinking, "what in the world?" I did, too when I first heard the phrase. This is one of my tried and true recipes handed down to me from my grandmother Freida.

Most folks have special memories of their grandparents and I am no exception. I loved being around my grandmother. She was an amazing woman who could knit, sew, and cook anything, at least in my opinion. She was a fiery redhead with green eyes and a thick-as-pea-soup Brooklyn accent (she wasn't known as the Redhead from Carnarsie for nothing). She taught me fabulously useful things things like extending a meal from 4 to 8 servings with appetizers and bread, how to budget, and how to fix seconds from the knitting mill. She also taught me to cook and try some of the most unusual foods I ever imagined. One of these foods is eggplant caviar.

Ingredients:
1 large or 2 medium sized eggplants
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Set the oven to 350 degrees. Slice the eggplant in half lengthwise. Coat the skin side with a small amt of oil. Place on a cookie sheet cut side down. Bake for 30 minutes or until soft. Remove from oven and let cool
Scoop out the eggplant "meat" and place in a bowl. Add the onion and oil. Mix. Add salt and pepper to taste.

This dish makes a good dip or appetizer. Serve with crackers.

Pretty easy, low fat, low calories depending on how many crackers you eat. Goes with milk or meat dishes. Perfect for the Break the Fast meal after the conclusion of Yom Kippor although I think it's perfect to eat anytime a nosh is in order.
Enjoy!

Post by Miss Eileen aka GoofingOff MissEileen vintage
Goofingoff Etsy Judaic fabrics, sewing patterns
GoofingOff Artfire Sewing patterns, plus size patterns
Metal Woods N Water unusual stuff and metal work

Ice Box Pickles

Folks who know me know I like to goof off. After all, that's why my shop's name is GoofingOff. My goofing off includes the kitchen. I love to cook. One of my favorite things to do is restrict myself to using what's on hand, and that includes what's in the garden.
I love cucumbers but when the cukes come in there are just so many fresh cukes you can eat until you start feeling like you are growing bumps and turning green.
A long time ago I found this recipe in the newspaper for ice box pickles and thought I would give it a try. They are wonderful. They are easy to make, taste great, and don't need cooking. No hassles with the water bath or big canner and they are ready in a day. Love to make things that are easy but still get compliments.

Ice Box Pickles
2-3 large cucumbers, sliced
1 large onion, sliced
1 tablesppoon of salt
2 cups sugar
1 cup vinegar
1 teaspoon celery seed
Sprinkle salt over cucumers and onions. Let set for an hour or more, stirring occasionally. Do not drain.
Mix the sugar, vinegar, and celery seed and pour over cucumbers. Let stand for 6 hours or overnight. Strir occasionally to make sure all the cucumber slices are covered with brine. Put the pickles in jars or bowls and store in the refrigerator. They will be ready in about one day.
Try making up a batch for your next barbecue or get together.

Zinnias in the Garden

This year the hubby took over the garden and graciously gave me a side to work. While I appreciated his generosity, my subversive, sneaky side took over when I was at the store and spied some zinnia seeds. Amazingly the seeds got on his side of the garden as well as mine (more like in the middle but the poor seeds didn’t know where the boarder was). “They’re not going to be big, are they?” he asked to which I just mumbled some kind of reply.
Well, it turns out I didn’t buy the petite zinnias. Oops. They are pretty, though.

The Volunteer Garden: Mini Spaghetti Squash

This year our garden is doing pretty good. Yellow squash and zucchini pickin’s are a little low but there’s plenty of eggplant, tomatoes, and broccoli to make me happy. The volunteers are the best of all. What’s a volunteer? It’s a plant that came up without any assistance from you. You didn’t  plant the seed or seedling, it just came up on its own. In our garden, we have volunteer tomatoes, pumpkin, watermelon, and spaghetti squash.

 

When the spaghetti squash first came up I thought they were honeydews. The plant, and the fruit, look sort of the same. They didn’t get very big, though, about the size of a large tomato. I baked a few and sure enough, that’s what they are, little spaghetti squash, just right for stir-fry. If you’ve never tried spaghetti squash you should. They are low calorie and sort of like tofu….they take on the flavor of whatever sauce you cook them with. We make a vegetable stir fry with them using soy sauce and oyster flavored sauce that comes out yummy….Cheap, fast, and easy. Served over rice and its a meal.

As for the tomatoes, the volunteer plants are as big as the deliberately planted ones, if not bigger.

I love the volunteers. A little small but hearty and determined to come into this world….and onto my table.

Post by Eileen Patterson.

Tin Can Creations

Some time ago I posted a tutorial to make tin can flowers. Well, today I found a few other uses for tin cans (other than the recycle bin).
These creations are from Quilts and Art by Cheryl Check out her blog. She has some great ideas over there. If you do, be sure to tell her I sent you.   

                                        This caterpillar is adorable!

These creations are from Quilts and Art by Cheryl 
Check out her blog. She has some great ideas over there. If you do, be sure to tell her I sent you.
Post by Miss Eileen aka GoofingOff
MissEileen vintage
Goofingoff Etsy Judaic fabrics, sewing patterns
GoofingOff Artfire Sewing patterns, plus size patterns
Metal Woods N Water unusual stuff and metal work

The Volunteer Garden

Now matter how hard I try, a lot of my life is a bit haphazard. Maybe it’s because I have a “let the chips fall where they will” kind of attitude. Maybe it’s because at work I have to be so exact that I am in a continuous state of rebellion (mild, though, as I’ve aged….like wine and cheese). Maybe it’s because I am too tired to make everything just right. I don’t know, however, this laissez-faire (not lazy fair….thank you very much) attitude extends to most areas of my life. I make stews and soups (throw it in the crock pot with a few seasonings…easy, just act like it took forever and everyone thinks you are a genius), color outside the lines (those lines are suggestions), and garden volunteer style. What’s volunteer style? It is the lazy girl’s way of composting. No barrel, no pile, no turning, just bury the scraps, add water and presto! like magic, plants appear. For those of us who are OCD in the garden, this will not work but I choose to be OCD in other areas and let the garden do almost what it wants to. Besides, the last time I tried to compost the local critters and varmints thought it was a smorgasbord made just for them. Almost scared me out of my….never mind, that’s another story. Back to the volunteer garden.

The volunteer garden is a reflection of your eating habits, and sometimes your didn’t eat it  habits. Tomatoes do pretty good. What variety? The “I didn’t pay extra for seeds” variety. Watermelon, squash, and cantaloupe do OK as long as they get enough water. The onions are growing because they look good (and didn’t get chopped up in time). We have cucumbers growing, too, a few peppers, and even sweet potatoes. 

The sweet potatoes are my favorites. I got very lucky with these. I planned to plant some but by the time I got around to it I was a month late. I bought some pretty sweet taters at the store and put them in the pantry with plans to cook them….and promptly forgot they were there.

One day, while getting something out of the freezer, I felt something rub against my arm. After I calmed down I noticed it was a sweet potato vine, one of about a dozen. We planted the vines and let them grow.

Sweet potatoes have some of the prettiest flowers in the garden.

A few months later we harvest the sweet potatoes. Here’s the harvest.

Not a lot, about 1/2 of a 5 gallon bucket. Imagine if I’d of planted them sooner.

Post by Eileen Patterson.

Miss Eileen’s Etsy Picks 6.24.11 Summertime Fun

It is now officially summer! Woo Hoo! The garden is growing, the weather is hot, the Gators are in the College Baseball World Series, and scallop season opens tomorrow. Scallops, like the Shell Oil Company sign, come in towards shore this time of year. How do you get them? Snorkel and grab. So much fun. Lots to celebrate, lots to do, lots of fun.


Small Swim Suit Yellow Flowers by Celtic Pup Sweet little swim suit for the little one with pretty sun flowers.

Summer Dreaming Original Watercolor by Sketchbook Studio Art
Makes me think of summers by the lake. Gorgeous!


Greek Handmade Leather Sandals by Katgal12 Love these sandals!

Pull Over Baby/Toddler Bib and Burp Cloth Set by Maricole Designs Little boys and baseball! How cute!

Hawaiian Print Wide Brim Sun Hat by Freckles California Fun hat just right for the beach.

Hummingbird Feeder Stained Glass Copper by Gloria’s Glass Garden Incredibly beautiful.

Gardening Charm Bracelet by Stems of Stone Fun colors to wear.

Crochet Cuff with Glass Bead Buttons by Snappy New Day Light and lacy. Beautiful!
So, what do you think of my picks? Light and summery? Those are my favorites, which ones are yours? Vote for your favorite. Winning interview will be in a later post.
Post by Eileen Patterson of Goofingoff, Miss Eileen, and MetalWoodsnWater. You can find us on Etsy and Artfire.

Etsy Blogger Carnival – My Favorite Summer Recipe

I found this recipe long ago in a newspaper. It has become a family favorite.
Sweet and vinegary tart, a perfect way to use the cucumbers coming in from the garden…..with no cooking!

Ice Box Pickles

7 cups unpared, sliced cucumbers    
                                                                                                        
 1 cup sliced onion         
                                                                                                                        
 1 rounded tablespoon of salt   

2 cups sugar

 1 cup vinegar

1 teaspoon celery seed


                                                                                                                                                      
Sprinkle salt over the cucumbers and onions. Let set for an hour or more, stirring occasionally. Do not drain.

Mix the sugar, vinegar, and celery seed and pour over the pickles. Let stand a while, stirring from time to time. Put in jars, bowls, or plastic containers. Store in the refrigerator.

Pickles will be ready to eat in a day or two.
Enjoy!

Post by Eileen Patterson of Goofingoff etsy, Goofingoff Artfire, MissEileen, and MetalWoodsnWater.etsy/ metalwoodsnwater.artfire.com.

Get Ready for the Weekend Top Ten Metal Shops

After Dan's battle with a grinder (he didn't win the battle, either) he is not doing much metalwork which is leaving me with a yen for good metal...and him with a to do list that keeps growing. Here's a list of the top ten finds for the week. Just looking at the metal work makes me feel good...and makes Dan find something to do so he'll be too busy for my ideas. :) This list can be found on twitter, too @ http://twitter.com/goofingoff Baconsquarefarm.etsy.com Love these magnets. Architiques9890.etsy.com has some beautiful frames http://www.etsy.com/shop/1byliz, these clocks are from bikes! twobeans.etsy.com has unique wire work. JLHCopperDesigns.etsy.com has the most wonderful wind chimes. metalgardenart.etsy.com can help you dress up your world, inside and out. Say what you feel in metal. EdiesLab.etsy.com merritthyde.etsy.com has some beautiful birds. creativenuts.etsy.com Check out the sculpture! I love this cat!! WonderfulWire.etsy.com has awesome wire work. Love it!!! There, I feel better now. I got my metal fix for today. Hope you enjoy!