Coming In

I can remember my grandmothers talking about the vegetables in the garden "coming in."  I never understood this.  They certainly didn't sprout legs and walk into the kitchen!  Mercy knows that would have been nice.  Then, we wouldn't have to worry about all that back-breaking stooping and picking.  Nor would we have to stand for long periods of time blanching and cooling and bagging and such. 

Now that I am a grandmother and an educated southern woman, I wonder what term would really work better?  Saying that the vegetables are ripening isn't quite the term.  Neither does it seem right to say that we are harvesting them.  For goodness sakes, we only have one row of everything we planted.  So, I guess just saying that our vegetables are 'coming in' is the way to go.  After all, they do seem to come in the door with Mike every afternoon! 

Here was the first "mess" (another one of those terms from my grandmothers) of okra and the first tomato my sweet hubby brought in the other day.  The okra is especially wonderful as it seems to simply get long and not get big and coarse.  This okra is long gone since Mike and I cooked us up a good old summer meal the other night of fried okra, potatoes in cream sauce, green beans, and pork roast.  Yum!

I decided to batter and freeze the okra that he brought in yesterday.  If you would like to see the technique Mike taught me for that, just click HERE.

We have really been enjoying the bounty of our garden and I am ever thankful to have fresh foods.  It is especially delicious and the freshness really makes a difference in the taste and texture of the dishes we prepare.  Plus, when we freeze or can them, they taste far better than the store-bought canned/frozen veggies. 

Hope you are finding a way to beat the heat.  If so, please let me know what it is because I am wimpy and not weathering it so well!